Defender Trent Alexander-Arnold said Real Madrid surprised a lot of people who expected them to get “battered” by beating Manchester City 3-0 in the Champions League.
Federico Valverde netted a first-half hat-trick to secure an impressive last-16, first-leg victory.
Alvaro Arbeloa’s side have been inconsistent over the past few weeks but delivered their best display of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“Massive performance, I think a lot of the noise when the draw happened and then leading up to this game,” Alexander-Arnold said. “Especially given the way that we’ve been playing the last few games, and the results we’ve had, a lot of people just expected us to get battered tonight.
“It just shows the mentality. It doesn’t matter what injuries you’ve got, what players out, this competition means a lot to the club.”
Madrid were without key players including Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo Goes among others, but Valverde’s treble secured the record 15-time winners a convincing victory.
“I’m very happy for Valverde,” Arbeloa said. “I think he is the Juanito of the 21st century ... he is a perfect representation of Real Madrid.”
Juanito, a Madrid icon in the 1980s, was known for his fighting spirit and character.
“I had a feeling that we were better than the result said... but the result is here,” City boss Pep Guardiola said, refusing to write off his team’s chances in the return leg next week.
“In football you never know. We will try.”
It was a chastening night for English clubs as Chelsea were beaten 5-2 by holders Paris Saint-Germain and Premier League leaders Arsenal needed an 89th-minute penalty from Kai Havertz to snatch a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen.
Chelsea winger Pedro Neto apologized for pushing a ball boy in stoppage time at the Parc des Princes, sending him into a chair and triggering a confrontation between players. “We were losing and in the emotion of the game I wanted to get the ball fast and I gave him a little push,” Neto said.
Elsewhere, Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt continued their fairytale run with a 3-0 win at home to Sporting Lisbon.
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