Toni Kroos gives verdict on Real Madrid's possible UCL comeback vs Arsenal

Former player shares his thoughts ahead of the second-leg.

Toni Kroos makes his prediction about whether Real Madrid will make a comeback against Arsenal in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.

At the Emirates, Real Madrid lost badly to Arsenal 3-0 in the first leg of their quarterfinal matchup in the UEFA Champions League. On April 16, the second leg will be played at the Santiago Bernabeu.

In order to pull off another historic comeback, Los Merengues have an uphill task to climb in the second leg. Although Carlo Ancelotti’s team still has a long way to go, club veteran Toni Kroos believes Arsenal may panic due to their inexperience at this level.

He emphasized that there is always a chance that Real Madrid will score. He told Einfach mal Luppen:

“Real Madrid has to decide it in the first 15 minutes. That’s how it should go ideally. You need to make Arsenal, who have no Champions League quarter-final experience, especially not in Madrid, think: ‘woah, it’s not over yet’’.

“I can say from experience, usually when Real Madrid are chasing, there’s always that phase where you have a feeling that they will score one goal, even if it’s five, six or seven minutes left.”

🇩🇪🗣️ Toni Kroos on Real Madrid's 2nd leg vs Arsenal… "Real Madrid has to decide it in the first 15 minutes. That’s how it should go ideally." "You need to make Arsenal, who have no Champions League quarter-final experience, especially not in Madrid, think: ‘woah, it’s not… pic.twitter.com/W6LWzQDOdH

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) April 13, 2025

Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti will undoubtedly have a difficult task ahead of them at the Bernabeu on Wednesday. But it’s encouraging that nobody has written them off and still expect them to pull off a comeback in the quarterfinal match.

Kroos stated that in order to give themselves the greatest chance, they must get out to a strong start because a quick goal would put Arsenal under a lot of pressure. Real Madrid may or may not be able to react, but if they do, it would be better late than never.

Despite this, Kroos believes Madrid are capable of scoring three goals or more at the Bernabeu to go into extra time in the match. If they win, they will face either Unai Emery’s Aston Villa or Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals.

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