Partey makes Real Madrid admission ahead of crucial moment in Gunners 'project'

Arsenal go to the Bernabeu holding onto a 3-0 lead from the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, and Thomas Partey admits the game represents a crucial one in their modern history

They will be mad for it in Madrid, and Thomas Partey says Arsenal have reached a “beautiful moment” in Mikel Arteta ’s grand design to conquer Europe. In the modern lexicon of hipster prattle, everybody in football these days talks about a ‘project’ as if forward planning was an optional alternative to busking it.

For most fans of a certain age, projects were the province of geography field trips or extra homework. But there is no denying that Arsenal’s Champions League moment of truth against Real Madrid on Wednesday night feels like a defining pinch point in manager Arteta’s reign.

And midfielder Partey, a veteran of trips to the Bernabeu cauldron in his previous incarnation with cross-city rivals Atletico Madrid, agrees it will be a decisive test of the Gunners’ mentality. Arsenal have never lost a three-goal advantage from the first leg of a knockout tie in Europe, and Partey says they are in no mood to become the fall-guys in Madrid’s coconut shy.

After galloping forward to open the scoring against Brentford from his beat as a locum right-back, he said: “It's going to be one of the biggest games, with the situation and the mentality and the lead we have.

“We have to be confident, we have to go there and play our game and try to win. It's not going to be easy. We know how good they are and the quality they have from back to front. Every stadium is intimidating when you are not at your best, but we know what we have to do.”

Stick or twist? Arsenal’s dilemma is whether to sit tight or to apply the same game plan which destroyed Real at the Emirates.

Partey, who has won three of his 14 encounters with Real for Atletico and Arsenal, was fortified by the bravado of his fourth goal of the season, shrugging: “Well, I don't think it's tricky - if we are confident with our game, we play our game. It's not going to be something different. It's a beautiful moment (in the Arsenal project) and a moment that every player wants to be part of. I'm really happy to be part of it.”

To beat Real 3-0, and play them off the park, was a statement that Arsenal are ready to move up to the next level.

They have missed the boat three years running in the title race, but as a force in Europe they will be considered as potential kings, instead of pretenders to the throne, if they finish the job in Spain.

Partey said: “Well, I think (the first leg) was the first half of it. We know it's not going to be easy. They have some of the best players in the world, but any time we play our game we are the best in the world.”

No disrespect to Brentford or lord mayors, but for Arsenal a dreary 1-1 draw after demolishing one of world football’s aristocrats was never going to cut it. The Bees deserved Yoane Wissa’s equaliser, his 16th goal of the season.

But apart from semi-automated VAR making its debut to scrub out Kieran Tierney’s first-half header for offside, and Arteta’s slanging match with opposite number Thomas Frank after Christian Norgaard’s poor tackle on Gabriel Martinelli, there wasn’t enough incident to fill a postcard.

On the other hand, the Arsenal project takes off in Madrid this week, Gunners fans will be hanging their postcards in the Tate Gallery - one of Tate That’s greatest hits.