{"id":64397,"date":"2025-04-17T11:55:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T11:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=64397"},"modified":"2025-04-17T11:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T11:55:13","slug":"arsenal-silence-madrid-to-reach-historic-semifinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/04\/17\/arsenal-silence-madrid-to-reach-historic-semifinal\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal Silence Madrid to Reach Historic Semifinal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Adenike Lawal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mikel Arteta\u2019s Arsenal sent shockwaves through Europe on Wednesday night with a stunning 2\u20131 victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, sealing a 5\u20131 aggregate triumph and booking their first Champions League semifinal berth in sixteen years.<\/p>\n<p>Backed by a dominant 3\u20130 first-leg win at the Emirates\u2014powered by two sublime free kicks from Declan Rice\u2014the Gunners completed the job in Madrid with composure and class.<\/p>\n<p>The win is more than just progression; it is a thunderous statement that Arsenal are no longer rebuilding\u2014they are contenders.<\/p>\n<p>Bukayo Saka set the tone early with a calm finish, bouncing back from a missed penalty with typical resilience. Although Vin\u00edcius Jr. pulled one back for Madrid, Arsenal\u2019s belief never wavered.<\/p>\n<p>William Saliba anchored the defense with poise, while Gabriel Martinelli added the final touch deep in stoppage time.<\/p>\n<p>But once again, it was Declan Rice who bossed the midfield. Outplaying Jude Bellingham across both legs, Rice earned his second Man of the Match award, dictating the tempo and lifting Arsenal when it mattered most.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a historic night for the club,\u201d Rice said. \u201cWe believed we could come here and win\u2014and we did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Arteta, whose tenure began with doubts and growing pains, this marks a turning point. With a semifinal clash against Paris Saint-Germain ahead, Arsenal\u2019s long wait for European glory now feels within reach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are not done,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cThis is a hungry young team. And nights like this are what make legends.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Adenike Lawal Mikel Arteta\u2019s Arsenal sent shockwaves through Europe on Wednesday night with a stunning 2\u20131 victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, sealing a 5\u20131 aggregate triumph and booking their first Champions League semifinal berth in sixteen years. Backed by a dominant 3\u20130 first-leg win at the Emirates\u2014powered by two sublime free [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":64398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-64397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64399,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64397\/revisions\/64399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}