Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his side were prepared to write their own history after thrashing 15-times Champions League winners Real Madrid in the first leg of this season’s quarter-finals.

Arsenal continued their winning run against Los Blancos, having eliminated them in the last 16 in their only previous meeting in 2006, with a stunning performance and result at the Emirates which Paul Merson labelled the best in the stadium’s 19-year history.

Speaking after the 3-0 victory, Arteta left little doubt about the magnitude of the result.

“When you’ve not played against this team for 20 years, you’ve not had a proper run in this competition, you have to be prepared to write your own history,” he said.

“It’s on nights like this, that you can write your own history. It came from the collective and individual quality of our players. And now we have a lot more to give.”

Arteta did sound a note of caution, repeatedly reminding his players – and the wider world – it was still “half-time” in the tie ahead of next week’s second leg at the Bernabeu.

“We’re going to enjoy the win but we know it’s half-time and we’re going to have to be even better in Madrid,” he added. “I was very convinced [this could happen]. I could sense in the build-up we could create a lot of problems.

“But you have to make it happen. If you have that mindset and belief it can happen, you can deliver it. We did that but it’s only half-time.”

The Arsenal boss said both his side’s collective performance and “moments of magic” had been the difference on the night, and highlighted Declan Rice’s double – his first direct goals from free-kicks – but revealed his dead-ball prowess had been long in the making.

“Declan’s been very determined because we have said in the last few months that we have not scored a direct free-kick in three-and-half years,” he said.

“So, to score two goals in 12 minutes of that magnitude and of that quality from the same player, a player that has never scored a free-kick before in his career, what are the odds?

“This night was all about two factors; one is the atmosphere that we created 15 minutes before kick-off with something I haven’t seen before. And then the magic, the individual moments that decide all matches. And the first two goals from Declan sums up the night.”