Declan Rice has said Arsenal were confident that they were going to win at the Bernabéu and seal a spot in the Champions League semifinals.
The north London side came into the second leg of the quarterfinal 3-0 up however, Real Madrid's famed history of comebacks loomed large. But Arsenal didn't cower under the hostile conditions and won 2-1 to knock the holders out of the competition.
"It's just such a special night for this club. It's a historic night for this club. We have an objective in this competition. We want to play the best teams and we want to win this competition," Rice told TNT post-match.
"There was a lot of talk coming here about them coming back because they've done it so many times before, but we had so much belief and confidence from that first leg that we had enough to come here and win the game.
"We knew we were going to suffer, but we knew we were going to win. We had it in our mind and then we'd done it in real life. So yeah, what a night for the club."
Rice won Player of the Match in both legs of the quarterfinal. He scored two sensational free kicks at the Emirates Stadium last week and on Wednesday, controlled the midfield to keep Madrid at bay.
But the night could have gone differenty for the England international after he was adjudged to have fouled Kylian Mbappé in the box in the first half. However, a lengthy VAR check saw Madrid's penalty ruled out.
"I knew it wasn't a penalty look, don't get me wrong, I had my arm on him, but you have to do that in a box," Rice said.
"You have to try and stop him. Someone was going to let him go, but I knew it wasn't a pen. I said to him straight away and I said to [Lucas] Vasquez, it's not a pen. I would admit if I pulled him down, I would say he just fell to the floor and it wasn't a pen and I was fully confident it would get overturned and we just had to stay calm.
"It was a bit naive again, at times. We just had to control the game a little bit better. But in the end, we got the job done and it's a historic night at the club and yeah, honestly, I'm lost for words. It's just very special."