I am so happy we are playing Real. Personally, I think we have a better chance of advancing against Real than we did against Atletico (not saying a good chance). We cannot play against a mid-to-low block at the moment and Atletico would've been that on steroids. It would've been an extremely tedious and boring tie and we also would have had more pressure on us. Whereas now we get to play against a clearly amazing attacking side in Real where there will be little to no expectations/pressure even though we have probably the best defense in the world that from a personnel perspective, matches up quite well with the Madrid attack.
It will be a huge test for Arteta tactically on how to manage these two legs, especially with the unfortunate and frankly unfair circumstance that the Madrid tie is second. That needs to change next year in this new UCL format - the higher seeded team after the league phase always should get the second match. The huge variable here is clearly going to be the health/fitness/form of Martinelli and potentially Saka. If we can get those two back, you could certainly see a scenario where we advance against Madrid riding a stalwart defensive effort and catching them out with either superb individual effort or an opportunistic set piece. I have my doubts on if Saka will be available, and if so, have any type of fitness/form to make an impact but we are still a little under a month away so there is some time.
These are the ties that I want to be involved in with Champions League. The glamour ties. I'd rather we had a fully healthy squad but the experience the team will get from two legs against this juggernaut will only help us going into next year IMO, regardless of result.