By Rachel Rodrigues on Thursday, February 23, 2006

The Champions League is back and so is our great European form.

We were the underdogs going into the clash against Real Madrid on Tuesday but boy did we show them a thing or two. A brilliant performance from our lads handed Real their first ever home defeat from an English side and put a stop to their 3˝ year unbeaten home record in the Champions League.

Each and every one of our players had great individual performances and we deserved the win. We made the better start to the match, getting into the opposition's half and causing them all kinds of problems. We were unlucky not to take the early advantage in the opening half with some very good chances.

We started the second half much like the first and within 2 minutes of the restart captain Thierry Henry fired us into the lead with a superb goal. Thierry made his way past 3 Real players and slotted home to hand us victory and a very valuable away goal. Real Madrid pressed for an equaliser for the rest of the half. However our defenders were up to the task and we held on, even managing to cause problems down the other end. Overall each and every one of our players looked solid and in control throughout the match despite the inexperience, which the media thought would be our downfall.

How wrong they were.

Here's how the team performed:

Defence

Lehmann is having a very good season and the Real match was no exception. He was alert on crosses and made some important saves and punches in the area.

Senderos was a little shaky in the first half but was better in the second. He made some important challenges and clearances.

Touré had another good match after his return from African Nations duty. He was solid as our only first choice defender and looked after the younger lads at the back.

Eboue had a great match at the back and dealt with the threat of Robinho [who was linked to Highbury last summer] very well. He made some great runs up front and is really relishing his run in the first team. Flamini was the final member of a make shift back four and has done quite well in an unfamiliar position. He and Reyes linked up well and caused Real troubles on the flanks.

Midfield

Gilberto also had a good match alongside Fabregas. They both did well in the middle of the park and provided a lot more to the lads upfront than we have seen in previous matches.

Cesc in particular had one of his best games. He was passing the ball around superbly and getting up front as much as he could. Freddie seemed to have left his scoring boots in London, missing some very good chances in both halves. He was still able to cause the Real defence difficulties out wide and linking up well with Reyes.

Hleb had a good game as well while he lost the ball a lot in the final third he did play an important role in the defensive half clearing the ball and feeding it to the centre pairing.

Reyes had a very good game in midfield. He caused Real problems as a Seville player a couple of years ago and did the same as a Gunner last night. He got up front on many occasions and did well to bring the ball up from the defence after a clearance. I loved the way he tried to crawl back onto the pitch after a challenge only to have one of the Real players push him off again. Great efforts all round for Reyes and the other players in the middle.

Attack

Captain Thierry was the only one upfront for us but he was not short of assistance from the midfield. Reyes, Cesc and Freddie were all ready to provide support. He had a brilliant game and took a deserved goal to give us the advantage ahead of the second leg. He looked alert and applauded the efforts of the other lads.

Overall

We completely deserved the win on Tuesday night after a brilliant performance from all our players. The tie is far from over and we have to remember that even though we are in a very good position to take a place in the next round there is still another 90 minutes of football to be played at Highbury in two weeks. Next up we travel to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers who we beat 3-0 in the reverse fixture late last year.

The Official Arsenal-Mania Man of the Match for this game is Cesc Fabregas who was simply superb. Cesc won the award with 46% of the votes; Emmanuel Eboue came in second with 20% and José Reyes came in third with 10%.

Quotes from the MOTM voters:

Fabregas for me. He was absolutely faultless, never gave the ball away, and generally made the long-haired tw*ts in their midfield look like, well, tw*ts. Gurgen

Eboue for me ... Robinho's still trying to get out of his pocket. Spartan