Thierry Henry has revealed he is "proud" of the Arsenal squad after they thrashed Real Madrid and booked their place in the Champions League semi-final. Leading 3-0 from the first leg at the Emirates Stadium, Mikel Arteta's side beat Los Blancos 2-1 on the night to secure a thumping 5-1 aggregate win.

After missing a first-half penalty, Bukayo Saka made amends to put Arsenal 1-0 in front at Santiago Bernabeu. Although Vinicius Jr levelled for Real Madrid, Gabriel Martinelli scored in stoppage-time to put the icing on the cake for the Gunners, as they progressed through to the last four.

It was a terrific performance all-round and Arsenal legend Henry issued his reaction post-match. In an Instagram post, Henry, 47, recognised the fact Saka and Martinelli scored and copied his celebration - almost 20 years on from his infamous goal at the Bernabeu - and praised the players.

He said: "Deja Vu! Proud of the boys. COYG. ONTO THE NEXT ONE. @bukayosaka87 @gabriel.martinelli @arsenal."

Reacting to his side's performance in his post-match press conference, Arteta admitted he doesn't think he has felt prouder of his players. "Probably not," the Spaniard replied. "Not only because we're in the semi-final for the third time in our history now, but also because of the way we did it.

"Not only because of the way we played, but also because of the circumstances, the amount of injuries we had. That shows the character of this team, of this club, and it’s a night to be very proud of."

Next up for Arsenal in the Champions League is Paris Saint-Germain, who scraped past Aston Villa 5-4 to reach the last four. When asked if the Gunners can go from challengers to winners, Arteta added: "It's certainly another massive step.

"Where we finished last year and the way we're doing it this year, the teams with their eyes on us and the competition, it's incredible. Big credit to [Madrid], it was my first time as a coach in that dugout and today I realised after three minutes in this stadium, anything is possible.

"They are specialists of creating such chaos and belief, and it's very difficult to understand really what's going on in the game and have certain certainty about how we controlled it. I think they showed a lot of maturity."

Saka, meanwhile, believes that Arsenal can win Europe's top-tier competition. He told TNT Sports: "We felt comfortable. We are quite good when we get into a low block. It took a lot of running but we managed to do it."

And asked if the Gunners can win the tournament this year, he added: "Yes. I like to believe that."