Arsenal were dominant in their victory over Real Madrid and will perhaps be disappointed that they only secured a three goal lead heading into the second leg.
Jude Bellingham believes Real Madrid were lucky that the Gunners only managed to score three on the night as Thibaut Courtois produced a string of fine saves and David Alaba made a superb goal line clearance.
Prince William praised Declan Rice for his phenomenal free kicks in the second that really changed the momentum of the match for Mikel Arteta’s side.
However, despite Arsenal’s dominance, there was a moment in the match that Ian Wright has highlighted as ‘changing everything’ in the tie and it fell to Real Madrid’s star man – Kylian Mbappe.
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Ian Wright claims Kylian Mbappe moment ‘changed everything’ in Champions League tie
With the score at 0-0 in the first half, Real Madrid had a period in the game where the Emirates Stadium was hushed with their spell of brief dominance.
Luka Modric and Bellingham were beginning to dictate things in midfield and Mbappe was pulling on to the shoulder of Jakub Kiwior and looking dangerous.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast, Wright has claimed that Mbappe’s missed chance on the half hour mark was the moment that the tie truly swung in Arsenal’s favour.
Wright stated: “What I thought with Real Madrid, there was a couple of times where I thought they played it well. The crowd were going off it in that place and they kept it quiet. Mbappe missed that chance, that changed everything.”
Had the French star slotted that ball past David Raya, the tie may have had a different outcome with Arsenal then having to chase the game and leaving spaces in their defence.
However, it was the Gunners keeper who come out on top in that duel and he will be hoping to do the same again in the return fixture at the Bernabeu.
Arsenal must suffocate space for Mbappe in second leg
One of the key factors in the sensational victory for the Gunners was the way that Mbappe was allowed no space to run into behind the Arsenal defence.
William Saliba and Kiwior made the decision to either go really tight to the Madrid forward and not allow him to turn or in contrast, backed off and denied space in behind.
The one time they were caught in between two minds, Mbappe pounced and had the chance to open the scoring and Arsenal will be wary of his threat once again in Spain.
The Gunners cannot afford to sit too deep and invite pressure but need to get the balance of their defensive line just right again, something Arteta will be working on in the coming days on the training pitch.
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