Real Madrid brace for Arsenal’s set piece prowess ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League quarterfinal matchup
Thibaut Courtois insists Real Madrid are ready to put their set piece problems behind them and quell one of Arsenal’s greatest threats in Tuesday’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg.
Mouctar Diakhaby’s header in Valencia’s 2-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu was the 10th goal Madrid have conceded from corners this season, an ill omen given that dead balls are one of the most devastating weapons in Arsenal’s, erm, arsenal. The 31 goals Mikel Arteta’s side have scored in league games from set pieces since the start of last season is bettered only by Bayer Leverkusen in Europe’s top five leagues.
Their greatest set piece weapon may be missing, Gabriel Magalhaes sidelined for the remainder of the season, but the deliveries of Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice are frequently so dangerous that it does not require a huge center back to get on the end of them. Madrid are certainly aware of the danger that their hosts can pose when the ball goes out of play with Courtois warning that Arsenal can win a game from set pieces alone.
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“We worked on defending set pieces in training yesterday,” said Courtois. “We know Arsenal are good at them. We cannot give away too many corners. It’s a question of concentration. Sometimes the quality of the rival can cause us problems. They might be well positioned. We know how hard it can be to defend against good positions but we’re ready to do so and think we’ve prepared well for this.
“We’ll defend like we defend. We tend to defend in zonal systems with blocks, some go man to man. Sometimes you have to use your intuition to know which post it’s going to, we know Arsenal will try to block me, we’ll protect against that.
“You can’t ask for a foul. You have to defend set pieces. They can win a game like that.”
Carlo Ancelotti was similarly bullish, noting that Madrid do not exactly struggle at turning their dead balls into goals either. Two of their goals in a 4-4 draw with Real Sociedad came in that fashion, as did Vinicius’ in the loss to Valencia.
“They are really strong and dangerous in this situation,” said Ancelotti. “We try to defend as best we can. We have to create damage too, we scored three goals in the last two games. It is a really important part of the game and then there is all the rest.”
Arsenal free kicks and corners are not the only set plays coming under the spotlight of the Madrid press lately. Vinicius might have scored on Saturday but he also missed a penalty mere weeks after failing to beat Jan Oblak from 12 yards out. Ancelotti confirmed that the role of first choice penalty taker is under the spotlight but backed Vinicius to rally from the setback.
“I’ve not talked to him, I don’t need to,” he said. “He could have played better at the weekend but I don’t need to talk to him about that. He’s a young lad, he’s going to have a great game tomorrow.”
Tuesday’s first leg sets the Champions League’s most successful side against one who for several years have been striving to simply get back to that stage. Last season’s tie against Bayern Munich, one where they were eliminated by Joshua Kimmich, was the first quarterfinal Arsenal had played in the competition for 14 years. Fifteen time champions Madrid are its most successful side, Dani Carvajal and Luka Modric its most successful players with six wins and Ancelotti on five by far its most successful coach.
“Experience in this competition is really, really important,” said Ancelotti. “The experience means you are not afraid to play this kind of game that puts a lot of pressure on you. This is face to face, a lot of pressure on this game. Experience is really important, having a lot of players who already played this kind of game, gives more confidence to the players.”