By Victor Kanayo
After conquering their quarter-final opponents, Arsenal and Inter Milan will now face PSG and Barcelona respectively in the semi-final of UEFA Champions League in the current 2025/26 season.
Arsenal advanced to the last four place for the third time in club history with a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, winning 5-1 on aggregate.
Having won the first leg 3-0, Arsenal increased their advantage in the 65th minute with a lovely chipped goal from Bukayo Saka, but Madrid cancelled that strike just two minutes later as Vinicius Junior caught William Saliba napping.
A goal in second-half stoppage time from Gabriel Martinelli put the result beyond any doubt.
In a frenetic first half, Saka saw a Panenka penalty saved by Thibaut Courtois while VAR intervened at the other end to deny Real Madrid a spot kick of their own.
Gunners – Back To Reckoning
It is just the third Arsenal have reached the semi-final stage of the Champions League.
Arsenal beat PSG 2-0 at Emirates Stadium in the league phase but Luis Enrique’s French champions are much improved since then.
The Gunners have not lost by a four-goal margin since a 4-0 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield in November 2021.
And it is 100 games since they conceded more than twice, which was during a 4-3 win at Luton in December 2023.
Inter Cruise
For Inter Milan, they drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich in the second leg in Italy.
Inter are still on for a repeat of the Serie A, Champions League and Italian Cup treble won under Jose Mourinho in 2010, as they are also three points ahead of Napoli in Italy’s top flight and face AC Milan in the semifinals of the domestic cup.
And Wednesday’s win showed that Inter are more than capable or reaching the final of Europe’s elite club competition, as they did two years ago when they were narrowly beaten by Manchester City.
Bayern had won all three of their previous Champions League away matches at Inter, but after Pavard crashed home his first goal for the club in the 61st minute there was no way back for the injury-hit Bundesliga leaders.
Inter will also benefit from playing the second leg of their showdown with Barca, who they beat in the semifinals on their way to victory in Madrid 15 years ago, at the San Siro.
