Former Arsenal star Hector Bellerin has claimed that he backed the side to earn a result against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
It comes as the Gunners prepare themselves for the second of two huge meetings with the Spanish giants at the Bernabeu.
Arsenal lead 3-0 against Real Madrid after a first leg at the Emirates Stadium, which left everyone stunned on both sides.
With a week to digest the result, plenty of the talk has surrounded a Real Madrid comeback and whether they can make Champions League history once again.
While Los Blancos are looking to step up the belief, the Arsenal side is more about trying to win the game the way they know how and to write their own story.
Hector Bellerin backed Arsenal to beat Real Madrid in the Champions League
After a stalemate of a first half in north London, the floodgates opened when Declan Rice’s stunning free-kicks were followed up by Mikel Merino’s strike, giving Arsenal a huge advantage.
Arsenal travel to Real Madrid for an intense second leg that will put pressure on them to reach the Champions League semi-final, but they now have that three-goal buffer to play with.
Despite some of the shock over the result so far, former defender Hector Bellerin has revealed he wasn’t too shocked by it.
He said on The Rest is Football podcast: “Very delighted, especially for the former Arsenal man that I was.
“I wasn’t surprised by the result, I have to say it. I don’t know how it’s going to be at the Bernabeu, it’s a completely different game over there.
“But, it was easy to say after the result, but I was completely sure that was going to happen.”
Bellerin isn’t the first, nor the last, to claim that Arsenal’s win over Real Madrid in the first leg wasn’t a surprise, with many feeling it was only a matter of time before a big result followed.
Hector Bellerin’s Barcelona spells
Hector Bellerin’s time at Arsenal will largely be remembered fondly for the time he spent in the side when breaking through as a youngster.
The defender has become synonymous with the Gunners, but he also has some ties to Real Madrid’s league rivals, Barcelona.
The full-back came through the youth system at La Masia before he was picked up by the Arsenal academy.
Rising through the ranks, Bellerin made his way to the first team with the Gunners, enjoying an eight-year stint at that level.
He eventually moved on, though, re-joining Barcelona on a short-term stay to help his boyhood club.
While there’s no doubt that he would’ve been delighted to see how Arsenal did against Real Madrid from being a former player, it may bring that extra bit of joy to see it from the view of a Barcelona fan and player of the past.
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