Arsenal's date with destiny: Knocking Real Madrid out of the Champions League would change the Gunners' European reality

When Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the 2009-10 Champions League, it seemed unthinkable they would have to wait another 14 years to reach that same stage again. Arsene Wenger's Gunners went on run of seven successive last-16 eliminations. It was, as it turned out, a neat summarisation of Arsenal's place in the European pecking order. They would dish out punishment to weaker sides, but were ultimately at the mercy of the other big boys.

At some point, if you're going to be taken seriously in Europe, you simply must show you can better a superior team over two games. Sure, Arsenal had the odd win against Barcelona and Bayern Munich here and there, but that was mainly born out of volume, they weren't actually the stronger side over 180 minutes.

Under Wenger, Arsenal became stuck in the same cycle every season. Have a slow summer to the anger of fans, results pick up over the autumn, there's a slip in the winter and then a springtime boost before scraping a top-four spot down the final stretch. Flaming out before the Champions League quarter-finals was as constant as any other checkpoint in the sequence, and it gave the Gunners a very unserious impression to the rest of the European Cup constants - they were there merely to take part.

When Wenger's grip on the top-four loosened, it began a ran of six successive seasons either in the Europa League or not in European competition at all. In their first jaunt back in the continent's second-tier tournament, they pushed eventual winners Atletico Madrid to the brink in the semi-finals, losing 2-1 on aggregate - the Gunners notably failed to make their one-man advantage count in the home leg after Sime Vrsaljko's red card, drawing 1-1 before a 1-0 defeat at the Estadio Metropolitano.

Bringing in Unai Emery, a noted Europa League specialist with three of his four career wins already under his belt at this point, only changed Arsenal's fortunes slightly. They went one step further and reached the final, but fell to London rivals Chelsea in a 4-1 thumping. Having also thrown away points needlessly down the stretch of the 2018-19 Premier League season, Arsenal were kept out of the Champions League for another year.

And then they truly entered the European wilderness. Mikel Arteta's arrival was soon followed by a shock last-32 Europa League exit to Olympiacos in added time at the end of the second leg's extra time. An eighth-place league finish was rescued by victory in the FA Cup, with Chelsea this time thwarted at Wembley, yet Arsenal were dealt a fatal blow by a vengeful Emery in the 2020-21 Europa League, as his Villarreal side dumped them out in the semis before beating Manchester United in the final.

Arsenal's 2021-22 campaign was their first without a European adventure since 1996, owing to finishing eighth again. They instead spent the year battling arch enemies Tottenham for the Premier League's final Champions League spot, with another inexplicable collapse in the final weeks of the season costing them that place. Another year in the Europa League beckoned, another relatively early exit, this time to Ruben Amorim's Sporting CP in the last-16, but at least they were able to punch their ticket back to the bright lights of the Champions League after finishing second. The years traversing the black-and-orange highways and byways of the Europa League were over.

Arsenal's return to the top table began swimmingly. Even despite a 2-0 loss at Lens, they breezed through the old-format group stage with a game to spare. Porto, who just so happened to be the team Wenger's Gunners defeated in the 2010 knockouts, were drawn in the last 16, and this time it went the distance. The Gunners battled hard for over 180 minutes against Sergio Conceicao's dogged Dragons before prevailing on spot kicks in front of a home Emirates Stadium crowd. For the first time in a long time, they could boast being among Europe's top eight teams.

Bayern awaited in the quarters, and plenty of Arsenal fans had revenge on their minds for the previous maulings inflicted upon them. There was a confidence about them too, given their differing domestic fortunes, with Thomas Tuchel's side surrendering the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen and Arteta's men going stride for stride with Manchester City in the Premier League.

Once again, European pedigree proved the key differential. The German giants still played their own game, but a nervous Arsenal tightened, even after taking the lead early on in the first leg on home soil which ended 2-2. At the Allianz Arena, the visitors barely laid a glove on their hosts, who had Joshua Kimmich to thank for scoring the night's only goal.

A young manager in Arteta with a young team hanging on his word were still accumulating the scars necessary for education purposes. Arsenal played within themselves for the majority of the tie, rather than rising to the challenge. Their meticulous match-planning led them to playing the game rather than the occasion, but on those pressurised Champions League nights with the world watching on, it has to be the opposite.

Through 90 minutes of this year's quarter-final with Real Madrid, Arsenal have played with the emboldened attitude required. Arteta's rallying cry for the Emirates to create a cauldron of noise largely out of keeping with the ground's history worked, and the occasion of the first leg felt much more significant than the the year prior against Bayern.

It was therefore fitting that two of their goals in the 3-0 triumph were an expression of self-confidence, as well as perhaps a rejection of the micro-managing that had become the team's set-piece obsession, with Declan Rice thundering in two of the best free-kicks the game has ever seen anywhere 12 minutes apart. Makeshift striker Mikel Merino added the gloss with a brilliantly-taken goal soon after.

Arsenal will head to Santiago Bernabeu with a three-goal cushion, an almost unfathomable advantage to comprehend in the modern Champions League, let alone when you factor in their many European shortcomings that have lingered throughout their history and become the first stamp on the club's passport abroad. Since winning their famed 'La Decima' in 2014, Madrid have consistently found ways to win by any means necessary when the chips are down. Where Arsenal's European DNA has been constructed with shortfalls, Madrid's has mutated out of control with mythos and legend.

Arteta told the Spanish press that after the first leg he called Pep Guardiola to ask about facing Madrid, and the Catalan coach would have likely told him the tie's not over until that last whistle. Los Blancos are football's answer to Michael Myers, the team that flat out refuses to die. Guardiola's City were heavy favourites heading into their 2021-22 semi-final, and led by two goals going into stoppage time of the second leg. They somehow lost. One year on, the retooled Cityzens advanced from the same stage 5-1 on aggregate, metaphorically beating Madrid to a bloody pulp. That's the sort of ruthlessness you need to kill them on this stage.

Arsenal's tiny footprint on the European beach may soon wash away to be replaced by one much larger. Beating Madrid 3-0 is no easy feat, but doing them over two legs - with Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr all fit - would send shockwaves across the globe.

No longer would the Gunners be viewed as pushovers, even if this season doesn't end in Champions League glory. This would be a grander coming-of-age achievement than Liverpool surprising City in 2017-18 when they reached the final and went on to win every top-level trophy under Jurgen Klopp.

In similar vein, it would open a lot more doors for Arsenal in the transfer world. Take Nico Williams, for example. The last two summers he's been supposedly close to leaving his beloved Athletic Club, only for his relationship with Bilbao to keep him from finding pastures new. An Arsenal who have finished second in the Premier League again and been knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals is a nice option to have, but unlikely one to be of outstanding candidacy. The plucky team who wiped the floor with Madrid, though? That's an outfit worth joining.

It could be a similar situation with an Alexander Isak or Viktor Gyokeres or whichever striker they go after too, and they already have proof of concept after signing Rice from under City's noses following just a singular Premier League title fight. Arsenal could offer hard evidence they are ready to make the leap from contenders to winners (if they don't take home the Champions League that is, of course).

Madrid have completed many a comeback before, but never one by three goals in the Champions League era. They did, however, overturn a 4-1 deficit against Derby County in 1975-76 in the halcyon days of the European Cup, though that speaks to how tough a job it is to haul yourselves off the canvas at that disadvantage.

The Madrid PR machine has been revved up for a week already. After last Tuesday's defeat, Bellingham said: "There is a second leg, that's the thing we're holding on to. We're going to need something unbelievably special, something crazy really, but if there's one place where crazy things can happen it's our house. Ninety more minutes at home to pull something out of the bag."

Ex-midfielder Toni Kroos commented: "The emotional factor will be a huge decider versus Arsenal. You need to make Arsenal, who have no Champions League quarter-final experience, to think 'whoa, it's not over yet." The club's ultras have promised to bring their noise and energy from pre-match to post on the streets and in the stadium. Even on the transfer front, William Saliba has been tipped to become a Galactico again.

Arsenal haven't been the underdog in a European tie and won since they made their only final in 2006, eliminating Madrid and Juventus in the knockout rounds. They can't let that weight of history cloud them, instead use it to inspire a more prosperous future. Prove to the world this Arsenal is made of different minerals.

It's been 19 years since their last meeting - they might never get a chance to kill Madrid again.