Arsenal star will look to prove Florentino Perez right in Real Madrid second leg

Real Madrid won’t be signing until 2026, apparently. Which is good of them. must have missed the Frenchman confirming only last month that he wants to become an legend.

If Mikel Arteta and his players needed more proof of how much damage they inflicted on the egos of and last Tuesday night, then reports from Spain that Perez has made it his mission to snatch Saliba away in a couple of years suggests are rattled all the way down to their white cotton socks.

The Real president is still an obsessive collector of Galacticos - and as far as he’s concerned, everyone has their price. It says much that the player Madrid have targeted for a well-timed charm offensive is the French defender who made his close pal look like a journeyman last Tuesday night.

To have any hope of overturning a daunting deficit in Wednesday night’s Champions League return, the European champions will have to stop Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli running riot once again. has also got to find a way to deal with Martin Odegaard's invention, Thomas Partey’s industry and Declan Rice’s free-kicks.

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But the bottom line is that Madrid have to score at least three goals And for that to happen, Saliba will have to have one of those nights.

Forget this result. The Premier League title race was already done and dusted before Wissa stayed humble by celebrating with a moment's meditation in the style of Erling Haaland and Myles Lewis-Skelly.

Liverpool now need just nine points from their final six games to be crowned champions. Eight will probably do it given their superior goal difference.

But Arsenal eyes were always on the Bernabeu rather than the top of the table. It was no surprise that Arteta made five changes to his team.

But with centre-back enforcer Gabriel Magalhaes missing after surgery, it would have caused Ancelotti to raise one of his famous eyebrows to see Saliba in his usual position.

have made an art form of being stubborn. They’re not slow, either, when it comes to putting a foot in. Just ask Gabriel Martinelli. The Brazilian was hit by a tackle that Sergio Ramos would have been proud of when he was sent spiralling by the boot of Bees’ skipper Christian Norgaard.

Frank’s attempt to calm the seething Arteta on the touchline didn’t go down well either, especially when Simon Hooper opted for a yellow card rather than red. The last thing the Gunners’ boss needed with a handful of Real Madrid’s scalp in his grasp was another injury.

Ben White was missing with a knee problem that is expected to clear in the next 72 hours. Saka, Odegaard, Lewis-Skelly, Mikel Merino and Jurrien Timber were moved to the bench.

Arteta was preparing to bring the first three on after an hour when Rice and Partey showed they've got plenty of strings to their bow. Frank will be furious about how his men were exposed by a counter-attack from their own corner. But David Raya’s throw found Rice and he galloped fully 70 yards before inviting Partey to slam a shot into the roof of Mark Flekken’s net with the perfect pass.

In Madrid, they are already talking about ‘La Remontada’, a comeback to rival the way Barcelona overturned a four-goal deficit against PSG in 2017 by winning the second leg 6-1. You can be sure that Ancelotti will have taken note of how the Gunners struck so ruthlessly with a blink-of-an-eye break.

Even when Wissa brought Brentford level, Arteta opted to bring off Rice rather than hope his in-form midfielder could win him the game. Saka almost did the trick anyway, with an injury-time effort that curled just wide.

But now it’s on to the Bernabeu for the Gunners and the chance to show why they’ve been installed as Champions League favourites.

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