Jude Bellingham fires warning to Arsenal after Real Madrid thrashing

Arsenal beat Real Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash, but Jude Bellingham remains confident the defending champions can pull off a huge comeback

Jude Bellingham has warned Arsenal that “anything can happen at the Bernabeu” after Real Madrid were thrashed in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash with the Gunners. Declan Rice scored two excellent free-kicks, while Mikel Merino fired in a third to give Arsenal a 3-0 advantage heading into the second leg in Madrid next week.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side put in a lacklustre display and only a host of big saves from Thibaut Courtois ensured they did not concede more goals. And Bellingham has acknowledged that Madrid were “nowhere near it” and will need a “really special” performance in the second leg. However, he did fire a warning to Arsenal as he highlighted Madrid’s Champions League pedigree, with the 15-time winners having a history of producing dramatic comebacks.

“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. 90 more minutes at home to pull something out of the bag.

READ MORE: Thibaut Courtois points finger of blame after being beaten by two Declan Rice free-kicksREAD MORE: Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal CAN win Champions League – but lays down huge challenge

“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. They reacted really well to the transition. We didn’t do enough on the ball to threaten. We’re still alive, we’ve got 90 mins of football and anything can happen at the Bernabeu.”

And when Ancelotti was told that Madrid have never come back from a three-goal first-leg deficit to win a Champions League knockout, the Italian vowed: “There is always a first time, you have to try. The comeback starts tonight.”

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta also remains wary of a potential comeback. “You have to continue to make steps, and tonight we have won in the right direction,” he said in his post-match press conference. “Now it’s half-time, and now we have to go to the Bernabeu and we’re going to have to elevate the level again to be the team that we want to be there, and to prepare the game to win it.

“I’m very proud, we had a very complete and big performance collectively and you need that in the organisation and what we had to do to dominate the game and to create Madrid problems.

“This night is about all two factors, one is the atmosphere that we created 15 minutes before kick-off is something I haven’t seen before, so playing with that energy, with that commitment with your crowd makes a huge difference.

“And then magic moments, individual moments that decide all matches and the first two goals of Declan sums up the night.”

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