Arsenal warned Real Madrid won't even need an early goal to complete comeback (2025)

Jamie Carragher has warned Arsenal they will be making a grave mistake if they believe it’s a case of mission accomplished against Real Madrid if they avoid conceding an early goal.

The Gunners are in a commanding position following last week’s 3-0 win over the reigning European champions and will hope to seal a place in the semi finals this evening.

Real, however, boast a remarkable track record of completing improbable comebacks in this competition as the likes of Manchester City have found out to their cost in recent seasons.

CBS pundit Micah Richards fears it could be a long night in store for Mikel Arteta’s men if they fall behind early, but fellow analyst Jamie Carragher insists Real will still feel confident of completing another remontada if theyopen the scoring with half an hour remaining.

‘Maybe, if they score early in the first 20 minutes, yes it can happen,’ said Richards. ‘But they need to score early.

‘The more the game goes the more frustrated Real Madrid become and Arsenal can catch them on the counter attack. But if they score early doors it’s backs against the walls stuff.’

Carragher, countered, arguing that there was no need for Real to go hell for leather in the early stages and claimed a more patient approach was likely to reap dividends.

Probable Real Madrid line-up vs Arsenal

‘I think they need to have scored a goal before the 60th minute,’ he said. ‘And they’ve got to give themselves half an hour to get two.

‘I think half an hour is enough time. If you got for it to get two goals at the Bernabeu, we saw them get two goals in a minute was it against Manchester City a couple of years ago?

‘We saw tonight Villa got two goals in three or four minutes. I think they’d have to give themselves not sort of 15 minutes or so, a good half an hour needing two goals is enough.

‘You don’t need to start quick, of course you want to build up some momentum and try and get the early goal, but 1-0 with half an hour or half time is fine.’

What tactics will Mikel Arteta use?

Of course, were Arsenal to score, even with the away goals rule now obsolete, Arteta’s team would put themselves in a near unassailable position and the Spaniard insists attack will represent the best form of defence.

‘To win it,’ Arteta said when asked how he would approach the match. ‘It’s the same as we did in London.

‘Our preparation for the game has been about the things that we have to do, the things that we have to dominate throughout the game, in different phases to give us the best possible chance to win the game.

‘That’s clear in our mindset, and the way we’re going to play tomorrow.’

‘Hopefully every game we do it differently. It would be very boring for 70 games to prepare the same plan and the same scenario for the players. So, it’s a different context to the first leg, that’s in the past.

‘We take learnings from it – some very good, some others that we have to do better than we did in London, and then have the capacity to have the intention to take the game where we want and be able to adapt quickly to any other kind of scenario to take the game where we want again.’

MORE: Real Madrid vs Arsenal: Confirmed team news, predicted lineup and injuries

MORE: Man Utd ‘favourites’ to sign £30m star as Arsenal make surprising transfer decision

MORE: Arsenal star told he’s ‘not at the level’ of Kylian Mbappe or Vinicius Junior