Arsenal’s pursuit of Champions League glory continues on Tuesday night as they take on Real Madrid at the Emirates.
The Gunners host Los Blancos in the first leg before they travel to the Spanish capital to face them at the Bernabeu next week.
Either Paris Saint-Germain or Aston Villa await in the semi-final, with the likes of Bayern Munich and Barcelona battling it out for a place in the final on the other side of the bracket.
Before Mikel Arteta’s team can even think about these potential future ties, they’ll need to overcome a star-studded Real Madrid squad packed with talented players.
Steve McManaman names his Arsenal and Real Madrid combined XI
Carlo Ancelotti has an embarrassment of riches at his disposal, flaunting an attacking cohort Arteta could only dream of.
The likes of Arda Guler, Endrick and Brahim Diaz are part of the support cast for arguably the most talented front three in world football in Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo.
Picking his combined Arsenal and Real Madrid eleven ahead of the Champions League showdown between the two sides for TNT Sports, former Liverpool star and outspoken pundit Steve McManaman selected just two Gunners players.
Only Jurrien Timber and William Saliba made McManaman’s line-up, with the pair of defenders joined by Antonio Rudiger and Dani Carvajal in the back four.
Thibaut Courtois got the nod over David Raya in between the sticks, with McManaman then picking a 39-year-old Luka Modric over Thomas Partey, Federico Valverde over Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham over Martin Odegaard.
Mbappe and Vinicius unsurprisingly made the cut, before the Liverpudlian produced perhaps his most controversial take of the lot.
Arsenal’s talisman Bukayo Saka was snubbed in favour of Rodrygo.
Saka missed three months through injury, yet has still contributed to five more league goals for Arsenal than Rodrygo has for Real Madrid in La Liga this season.
Arsenal fans weren’t happy with Steve McManaman’s combined XI
With Arsenal’s presence in this particular combined eleven limited, the Gunners faithful have unsurprisingly responded to McManaman online, venting their disagreement.
One fan wrote on X: “No changes. Tomorrow it’s a system (Arsenal) vs individual brilliance players tomorrow.”
Another added: “If Rodrygo was as good as Saka, Madrid would be 10 points clear in La Liga.”
Meanwhile, one fan wrote: “I would choose Gabriel over Rudiger, Saka over Rodrygo but agree on the others. Although I think Rice is a better DM than Modric, but Modric is class even at his age.”
Finally, another supporter had a different outlook, claiming the Arsenal players could use this as motivation.
They wrote: “This should be enough motivation for the Arsenal players. You can’t expect anything different when Arsenal haven’t won the trophy for the first time. They have to earn it by beating Real Madrid and going ahead to win the trophy.”
Real Madrid will be without six key players for the first leg, giving Arsenal an opportunity to capitalise on a weakened La Casa Blanca side.
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