Carlo Ancelotti was full of praise for Arsenal after his Real Madrid side were convincingly beaten 5-1 on aggregate in the Champions League quarter-final.

The Gunners had been much the better team while romping to a 3-0 victory in the first leg last week and drowned out the growing speculation of a potential comeback with a professional performance in Spain.

After denying Real Madrid a single shot on target in a goalless first half, Saka dinked Arsenal into a deserved lead. Vinicius Junior pounced upon a rare error from William Saliba to haul Madrid level on the night but the Gunners were scarcely fortunate to emerge with a second victory when Gabriel Martinelli streaked away in stoppage time.

“Something, we needed something,” Ancelotti sighed after Wednesday’s setback. “But we have to be honest, Arsenal deserved it in both games. Football has a happy side and a sad side. We’ve seen the happy side many times, today we got the sad side.”

Dani Ceballos echoed the same sentiment. “Arsenal were superior,” the former Gunners’ loanee conceded. “We lacked football, we lacked intensity, we weren’t competitive, we didn’t win duels.”

There were some spiky moments throughout on the pitch but it was nothing but mutual respect on the two touchlines. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta had a warm exchange of words with his Madrid counterpart at the final whistle and revealed the overriding message: “Carlo Ancelotti told me that he hopes Arsenal win the Champions League.”

Saka was confident that his side could fulfil that brief. “I like to believe that,” the goalscorer beamed to TNT Sports. “We showed that we can play in Europe and beat one of the best teams in the world, home and away. Very proud of this team. Tonight was a big statement and I am so happy for everyone.”