The Gunners are unbeaten in three previous meetings against Los Blancos, including the epic first leg of this two-legged quarter-final.
That certainly places the North Londoners in the box seat for progression into a semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain; however, the pressure that will come to bear should Carlo Ancelotti's side score an early goal will be immense.
Complacency will be Arsenal's enemy in Madrid
Arsenal only need look at the way in which Borussia Dortmund took the game to Barcelona in their second leg on Tuesday night as proof that their tie still isn't over.
On another night, had BVB taken all of their chances, Barca would've been dumped out of the competition thanks to a comeback that would've even surpassed the Catalans' own against PSG back in 2017.
However, if Mikel Arteta's side put in a similar standard of performance as in the first leg, Arsenal will surely equal their longest winning run away from home in the European Cup/Champions League (Four – won their last three).
The only previous time they've won four in a row away, a win against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu (1-0 in February 2006) was the fourth game of that run.
With players such as Myles Lewis-Skelly playing without fear and confidence, the Gunners are certainly capable of keeping Real at bay.
The 18-year-old became just the third English teenager to assist a goal in a Champions League knockout stage match in the first leg, and all three teenagers have done so while playing for Arsenal: Theo Walcott in 2008 (vs Milan and Liverpool) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in 2012 (vs Milan).
Mikel Arteta still has a point to prove as Arsenal manager
From Arteta's point of view, he really needs to get the monkey off his back of being the 'nearly' man for Arsenal.
Since taking over the head coach duties of the first team on December 20, 2019, the 43-year-old Spaniard has succeeded in changing the culture and mentality in the dressing room but hasn't really supplemented that with silverware.
It's worth asking the question, then, as to whether one defines his success by 'trusting the process,' by trophies won or both.
Winning the FA Cup in August 2020 certainly appeared to herald a new dawn at the Emirates Stadium, after the Arsene Wenger years petered out and Unai Emery's chances of a long-term stay were curtailed.
However, almost five years later and Arteta only has a couple of Community Shield wins on his resume, notwithstanding that he was a whisker away from guiding the Gunners to the Premier League title in 2023/24, eventually losing out to Pep Guardiola's Man City by just two points.
The Spaniard might want to point to the fact that of his 253 games in charge, he's won 149 of them, giving him an overall win percentage of 58.9.
Indeed, his lowest win percentage - a reasonable 50% - came during his first season in charge, and since then it's fluctuated between 57.1% and 65.4%. Hardly the worst return, even if silverware hasn't followed.
Furthermore, Arteta's Arsenal teams have scored 484 goals (almost two per game) and have let in just 247 (less than one per game).
So far this season the Gunners have conceded 41 goals in all competitions, which is their best return under the Spaniard, whilst 97 scored means they're just six behind equalling their second-best output (from the 2022/23 campaign). 17 home wins is only two shy of the 19 from last season, and 28 wins in total is one away from equalling their third best in a season under Arteta.
However, of the 253 games he's taken charge of, Liverpool are the opponents that Arteta has faced the most, and of the 14 games played against Jurgen Klopp or Arne Slot's Reds, Arsenal have won just two, drawing six and losing six.
13 games against Man City has seen a similar outcome, with two games won, three drawn and eight lost.
Arsenal have scored 13 and conceded 25 across the games played against those two opponents, and given that both the Reds and the Cityzens could be said to be the Gunners' major domestic rivals, the pattern of results against them to date does suggest that Arteta is still found wanting in the biggest games.
Arteta must stop blaming referees for Arsenal's shortcomings in big games
If blaming referees is still a thing, then Michael Oliver can normally be found in the middle when the Premier League's top matches come around, and the official has been known to infuriate the Gunners previously - Leandro Trossard at Man City anyone?!
Interestingly, however, Arsenal have had their most wins when Oliver is in charge of one of their games - 17 victories from 26 matches.
Of those other officials in the elite group, the north Londoners have a marginally better win percentage under Simon Hooper (66.7) than Oliver (65.4), though they've won six from eight games (75%) when Jarred Gillet has officiated.
When all is said and done, however, it's the manager who carries the can, not the officials.
Trusting the process is all well and good, but if you can't beat your biggest rivals when trophies are on the line, then the process remains flawed.
Were Arsenal to end up succumbing to Real Madrid in what would be an incredible turnaround on Wednesday night, the notion that Arsenal's manager is still the nearly man will continue to trouble the headline writers.
Whether Arteta likes that or not, questions would continue to be asked about his suitability for managing the first team at one of English football's most storied clubs.
