Jude Bellingham makes damning admission after Real Madrid trouncing at Arsenal

Jude Bellingham admitted Real Madrid "were nowhere near it" against Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final and are "lucky" to only be trailing by three goals.

The holders were blown away by a tremendous performance from Arsenal, whose supporters heeded Mikel Arteta's calls for a roaring atmosphere on what turned out to be a memorable night in north London.

A pair of stunning Declan Rice free kicks were built on by a smart first-time finish from Mikel Merino, handing the Gunners a 3-0 advantage heading into next Wednesday's second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Madrid aren't out of the tie yet – their pedigree in European football's top tier competition speaks for itself – but it was abundantly clear that the performance levels of Carlo Ancelotti's side must rise if they are to have any chance of winning a 16th Champions League crown.

"I think we were nowhere near it, that's the fact, and Arsenal were really good," Bellingham bluntly told Prime Sport post-match. "I know two of their goals were free- kicks and really good individual bits of delivery but to be honest they could have had way more, we were lucky to get away with three.

"But 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.

"[We have] 90 more minutes at home to pull something out of the bag. They're two great pieces of individual quality and, if it wasn't for them, they still had other chances. We got punished and that happens at top-level football.

"In these games, you need to create more. Very rarely do you come to a place like this, score one goal and take your lead back home. They reacted really well to the transition. We didn't do enough on the ball to threaten.

"We're still alive, we've got 90 minutes of football, and anything can happen at the Bernabeu."

Bellingham's words were echoed by Ancelotti, who expressed his surprise at Madrid being turned over in such a manner.

"Tough defeat, obviously. We didn't expect this," the Italian tactician said. "The team, for an hour, was good. The two goals brought us down mentally and physically. It was difficult to finish the game because we had no reaction. We usually do, but the last 30 minutes were very bad.

"We have to be self-critical and think about doing everything we can to recover."

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