We were all given a concept, more of an illusion. The mistaken belief that a remontada would take place in the legendary presence of the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid had done it before, and it would happen again with the dream that they sold us.
But we were never given the tiniest hint that the dream was purely imaginary, with no genuine basis. The dream was mainly based on illusion, as it required doing something without knowing how.
And this is not something new. This has been the situation with Real Madrid for a long time, but the deficiencies have just recently been obvious, since Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos are no longer available to cover for the coaching staff's awful tactical approach.
Real Madrid did not go into the second leg with a firm plan, and it was clear from the start. It was a terrible experience to witness that football, especially from a team that claims to be the best of all time. The criteria was just not met.
Real Madrid's plan for the comeback was genuinely awful
The Champions League is not a platform for mediocrity, and no one understands this better than the 15-time winners. They'd always been ravenous for the cup, but this time was different. The hunger was not present. Or perhaps there was no plan to extinguish it. It was a fool's effort at the most difficult task.
Los Blancos' only tactical option to overcome the massive three-goal deficit was to throw a billion crosses into the box, expecting a 6 foot striker to materialize out of nowhere and head them in. But here's the catch, Real Madrid do not have that striker.
Aside from the nonsensical crosses, there was no discernible plan. And it's a shame when you have creators like Luka Modric, Dani Ceballos, Vinicius Jr., and others on the roster. Ancelotti's tactics were no better than those of a high school coach, and it was only agonizing to see them play out for the whole game.
It was even more absurd given that Arsenal's defense is explicitly constructed upon the ability to handle all types of crosses. Mikel Arteta's specialty is defending crosses, which is exactly what they did at the Bernabeu.
According to WhoScored, 56% of Real Madrid's attacks originated on the sides, with 39% coming from the left. In contrast, Arsenal launched 67% of their attacks from the middle of the pitch, from whence they scored twice.
The notion would have been fine if it had been against a side that struggled to defend crosses, but Arsenal is not one of them. It's a side that specializes at diverting crosses and keeping them from posing a significant threat to their goalkeeper.
Arsenal made 37 clearances against Madrid in the game, the most of which came from simply deflecting frequent crosses ahead. The 6'2" Jacub Kiwior and 5'10" Jurrien Timber had little trouble defending crosses against the Merengues' front three.
And it is not as if this flaw was only discovered after it was too late. Los Blancos may have just realized after 10 minutes that firing meaningless crosses into the opposing box would not suffice.
However, Carlo Ancelotti did not appear to realize this. If anything, Real Madrid did not deserve to win the game or tie. A well-deserved departure from the Champions League.