Jude Bellingham insisted Arsenal were ‘really good’ after they dominated Real Madrid in the Champions League but has reminded the Gunners ‘anything can happen at the Bernabeu’ ahead of the return leg.
Arsenal thumped Madrid 3-0 in a one-sided quarter-final first leg at the Emirates Stadium thanks to two stunning Declan Rice free-kicks and a goal from Mikel Merino.
The result puts Arsenal in an incredibly commanding position ahead of the second leg in the Spanish capital next week.
England star Bellingham admitted Real Madrid were ‘nowhere near it’ on Tuesday night and said it would take ‘something crazy’ for the European champions to progress.
However, Bellingham is refusing to give up on back-to-back Champions League finals and said ‘crazy things can happen’ in ‘our house’.
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‘We were nowhere near it,’ Bellingham told Amazon Prime. ‘That’s the fact and Arsenal were really good.
‘I know two of their goals were free-kicks but they could have had way more.
‘There is a second leg and that’s what we’re holding on to. We need something really special, something crazy really but one place where crazy things happen is our house.
‘We’ve got 90 more minutes at home to pull something out of the bag. We’re still alive, we’ve got 90 mins of football and anything can happen at the Bernabeu.’
Rice had never scored direct from a free-kick before putting two past Thibaut Courtois, one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
On his England team-mate’s heroics, Bellingham said: ‘They’re two great pieces of individual quality and if it wasn’t for them, they still have other chances.
‘We got punished and that happens at top-level football. In these games, you need to create more.
‘Very rarely do you come to a place like this score one goal and take your lead back home. We didn’t do enough on the ball to threaten.’
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti, meanwhile, admitted Arsenal outplayed his team but vowed to ‘try’ and overturn a three-goal deficit at the Bernabeu.
‘The result means that Arsenal were much better than us,’ the legendary manager said.
‘The game was a bit different. For 60 minutes the game was level, and then they shoot two fantastic free-kicks. The game it changes.
‘The reaction, mentally we went down. We had a problem in the final 30 minutes of the game.’
‘Now it will be very difficult in the second leg. But we have to try.’
Having slipped 11 points behind Premier League champions-elect Liverpool and exiting both domestic cup competitions, Arsenal’s season was in danger of petering out.
However, this victory puts them on the verge of a Champions League final and in with a huge opportunity to win the competition for the first time.
Gunners defender William Saliba said: ‘Big night, big game, good atmosphere and a big win.
‘We are so proud to win today in front of our fans, against a big team. It was a perfect night – we have to keep going like this and go there and win the game again.
‘When we keep a clean sheet, we are so proud. We are happy, the whole backline did a really good job today.
‘We have to be proud of all the team, every player who came in, every player who started the game was so good.’
Looking ahead to the return leg in Madrid, Saliba added: ‘Everyone was so happy, but we know that the job is not done.
‘We have to be happy, of course, because we won today, but we have to do the same next week, and we will be happier.’
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