Injured Arsenal duo celebrate Eduardo Camavinga’s red card in victory over Real Madrid

Riccardo Calafiori and Kai Havertz summed up the jubilant mood amongst Arsenal fans after Eduardo Camavinga was sent off in the closing stages of the side’s stunning victory over Real Madrid.

The Gunners took a giant step towards the Champions League semi-finals as an inspired Declan Rice struck home two magnificent free-kicks against the reigning champions at a rapturous Emirates.

Mikel Merino gave Arsenal an imperious three-goal lead heading into the second leg with an exquisite 75th-minute effort beyond Thibaut Courtois – and the hosts’ evening improved further still in stoppage time.

With Mikel Arteta’s side cruising, Camavinga was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence after petulantly kicking the ball away, reducing the visitors to ten men for the dying embers of the second half in north London.

The moment of madness means the Frenchman will be suspended for the second leg at the Bernabeu and Carlo Ancelotti struggled to contain his frustration on the touchline.

The Madrid head coach couldn’t even face an emotionless Camavinga as the youngster slowly made his way off the pitch.

Meanwhile, Arsenal absentees Calafiori and Havertz were seen soaking up the moment, failing to suppress a fit of the giggles as they made eye contact in the immediate aftermath of Camavinga’s red card.

Just moments later, the two injured Arsenal stars cleared the path and gave Camavinga space as the surrounding fans sarcastically cheered and waved the midfielder down the tunnel.

‘How stupid is that. How ridiculous.’ Alan Shearer – the Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer – said on Amazon Prime of Camavinga’s sending off.

‘I understand the frustration and I understand they’ve taken a beating tonight but that just sums up Real Madrid, it really does.’

Though understandably glum-faced, Ancelotti said he and his players had to maintain ‘belief’ that they could turn the tie on its head in Madrid in a weeks’ time.

‘A lot can happen at the Bernabeu. It seems that after tonight there is no chance, but in football there are always changes,’ the Italian told reporters.

‘Nobody expected Arsenal to score two goals from set-pieces, but these things happen sometimes. We have to believe.’

Ancelotti was especially scathing of his side’s second-half performance, but reassured Madrid fans that he would be doing ‘everything possible’ to keep their defence of the trophy alive.

‘It was a tough defeat, obviously, we didn’t expect this, but after the 2-0… in set-pieces… we fell apart a bit. We finished the match badly,’ he added.

‘This team usually reacts, but the last 30 minutes were very bad.

‘We have to be self-critical and think about doing everything possible to try to come back.’

Asked whether Arsenal were simply the better team on the night, Ancelotti replied: ‘Today they showed better quality, attitude, working as a block.

‘We have to be quite critical. For an hour we were not bad. The result should not make us throw everything away.

‘It’s very difficult to come back, but in the first half we did several things very well. We had chances to take the lead. And the physical work was of a very high level.’

Mikel Arteta heaped praise on his players following the win, but was keen to remind his squad that it was ‘only half-time’.

The Arsenal head coach said: ‘We’re going to enjoy the win but we know it’s half-time and we’re going to have to be even better in Madrid.

‘I was very convinced [this could happen]. I could sense in the build-up we could create a lot of problems.

‘But you have to make it happen. If you have that mindset and belief it can happen, you can deliver it. We did that but it’s only half-time.’

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