Well, well, well. Did I not expect that.

Wowsers.

I mean, I knew that Real Madrid were ‘getable’. I knew they had weaknesses. I knew that they had issues at full back and that’s where we, as a team, tend to excel with the personnel that we have. But still…this is Real Madrid. A team that is synonymous with this competition. A side where you play the badge as much as the players on the pitch. A team who have moved aside an admittedly out of sorts Man City and seen off Atletico in the last round. This was going to be a mountain that Arsenal needed to climb (it still might be – we all recognise the fact this is only the first leg, but I’m leaning in to the joy today).

Except last night, after the light show had ended, the red smoke flares had started to die down a bit but the slightly acrid smell in the air still lingered, 11 Arsenal players (ten in red and white, one in neon yellow) stood up, looked at their opponents on the night and said:

“Not today”

Not today shall we play the badge. Not today shall we give any quarter. Not today will we let you display your talent. We’re going to stand up and be counted. We’re going to show you that this is our home, our gaff, we run this place (nod to Declan Rice pointing at the ground in that fashion for one of his goals).

To a man those Arsenal players did just that.

To. A. Man.

Pre game all the worry was about the absence of Big Gabby, but in Jakub Kiwior we had a guy willing to step up and Arteta had talked him up post Everton and pre this game. And the manager got it spot on. Aside from the first 60 seconds when he misjudged a bounce that thankfully came to nothing. After that he was pretty flawless. But then again so were most of those Arsenal players.

Raya was commanding when he needed to be and made a couple of smart save, albeit ones kind of down his throat.

Timber kept pace with the rapid Vini Jr all night and support Saka when he needed to.

Saliba was as cool as a cucumber as he always is and didn’t put a foot wrong.

Have spoken about Kiwior already, but next to him was a Myles Lewis-Skelly who looks like a guy who has been playing top flight football for a decade. I particularly enjoyed his sh*trousers down by my corner when he was given the ball by the Madrid player to take the throw in, only to walk past him and pick up another ball. Nice one Myles.

Partey was good on distribution all night.

Ødegaard started off a little up and down I thought, but grew into the game and you could tell he loves having his mate Saka back with him.

Rice. What can I say? Two of the finest free kicks you’re ever going to see, but aside from that, was a stand out performance that had energy, it had power, it had running up and down that pitch all night like a monster. He also had those extend-o limbs at times and was hands down the man of the match.

Martinelli got in behind his man a few times on the night and overall followed up his impressive recent performances with another one that will bring him lots of confidence for sure.

Merino was busy, has started to drop in to midfield at times which I think gives us more solidity and his goal was a sweetly taken finish that has us in an even more commanding position for this competition.

Saka was good. You can tell he was feeling his way back into the side but still had Alaba on toast at times. He won’t want to have the same in the Bernabeu in a week’s time.

Then some great cameos from KT and Trossard capped off what was a historic night for the club.

And I’ve gotta say, that’s was easily the best atmosphere I’ve been in since I’ve been coming to The Arsenal. Honestly, I thought nothing could beat the North London Derby, which has its own unique intensity, but last night felt iconic to me and as we ratcheted up the noise as Mikel had asked for, the players dialled up their intensity too. They fought for everything. When they needed to slow it down and control the ball they did, then when there might have been an opening, they went for it.

And we should have been up in that first half too. There were some smart saves by Courtois in the first half and I went in for halftime chats and drinks and worried that we weren’t going to get many more chances for the evening. But Madrid allowed us even more in the second half. We scored two super free kicks and a great finish from Merino, but before that Courtois had pulled off a couple of fantastic saves that had us all wondering if it was going to be “one of them nights, lads”.

It was indeed to be one of those nights, one of those absolutely iconic nights that will live long in the memory. It’s only the halfway stage, we have to avoid a collapse in Madrid, but this is a position I don’t think any Arsenal fan would have admitted to thinking they’d be in this morning. It was epic stuff. The Emirates was rocking. The roof was nearly raised and whilst I’ve repeatedly lamented this season for how we have been cursed, in the Champions League Arsenal have been excellent.

There is still so much to do. There is still so much work to get to the promised land of a cup final, but we’re in a great position to at least make a semi final.

Arteta got everything spot on yesterday and the build up to this. The right players were rested on Saturday. He clearly got the motivational speech right before the game. He got the players psyched up and ready to completely nullify a Real Madrid front line that I was honestly petrified about facing before the game. But Mbappe was silent. Vini Jr was silent. Rodrygo was silent. All completely pocketed by an excellent Arsenal back four protected brilliantly by Partey and Rice. We slowed the game down when we needed to, we sped up when we needed to, the game was treated like little mini ‘games-within-games’, of that I am convinced it’s how he instructed his players and they were absolutely ready for it.

Then at halftime he sent the players out early and there was something purposeful about that. It felt like a proper “game face on boys” and as the Madrid players trotted out half-heartedly, those Arsenal players were ready and waiting for them. And they never looked back.

A superb night, an iconic night, an important night and one that we can all dine out on for a while to come.

And one final word on those two free kicks. You will not see better ones struck for a long time. The second one in particular – literal DEFINITION of ‘Postage Stamp’. Love it.

Catch you all tomorrow.