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Arsenal defeat Real Madrid to reach Champions League semi-finals

England star Bukayo Saka scored a goal and missed a penalty as Arsenal fended off Real Madrid to reach the Champions League semi-finals in an incident-packed match at the Bernabeu.

Arsenal had a 3-0 aggregate lead to defend after their superb victory in the first leg last week – and they were given the chance to silence the noisy home support when they were awarded a 13th-minute penalty.

Saka stepped up but his weak, dinked effort was saved by Thibaut Courtois.

However, the England forward made amends for his miss when he effectively killed off the tie with a fantastic chipped second-half finish over Courtois after Mikel Merino’s clever pass.

Real hit back just two minutes later when a terrible mistake from William Saliba gifted Vinicius Junior with an open goal to score.

But Real were not able to capitalise on that glimmer of hope and Gabriel Martinelli capped off a glorious night by making it 2-1 in stoppage time with a breakaway goal, again set up by Merino.

It is about the third time Arsenal have qualified for the semi-final stage of the Champions League and they will tackle Paris St-Germain in the last four.

Arsenal.defeated PSG 2-0 at Emirates Stadium in the league phase but Luis Enrique’s French champions are much improved since then.

 

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