Arsenal indeed “write their own history”, with the extra flourish that the only remontada was Bukayo Saka’s. The forward overcame his early penalty miss to score the divine goal that has ultimately eliminated the European champions, with Gabriel Martinelli then killing any dying belief that Real Madrid had to turn a great night into a great win. There was even the literal lovely touch of how Saka’s penalty was a lifted Panenka gone wrong, only for the forward to lift it over Thibaut Courtois in even better fashion.
Arsenal have now ascended to the Champions League semi-final for just the third time in their history. Perhaps it is fitting that they will return to Paris, where they lost their only Champions League final in 2006, to add to that sense of history building.
