London:William Saliba admitted he had never seen Declan Rice hit a good free-kick prior to his stunning brace in Arsenal’s crushing win against Real Madrid. Rice scored the first and second direct set-pieces of his career in 12 stunning second-half minutes to send Arsenal on their way to a 3-0 Champions League quarter-final victory at the Emirates Stadium.
Before Tuesday’s match, Rice had never scored from a free-kick in 338 professional appearances.
Mikel Arteta’s men had also failed to find the net from a direct set-piece in almost four years, with their last coming via captain Martin Odegaard against Burnley in September 2021.
And defender Saliba said: “It’s the first time I’ve seen a good free-kick from Dec.
“We don’t score a lot of direct free-kicks and today he scored two in a game like this. I am so proud of him and I am sure he will score again. He was amazing.”
Such is Real Madrid’s pedigree in the Champions League, they started the two-legged contest as the firm favourites to reach the semi-finals. But Rice’s scintillating double, followed by Mikel Merino’s strike in the 75th minute, dramatically changes the complexion of the tie, with Arsenal now on course to make the last four and a tie against Paris St Germain - who they beat 2-0 at the Emirates in the group stage - or Aston Villa.
Although Real did threaten at times, through Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, Arsenal enjoyed the game’s best chances and Saliba, who has been linked with a move to the Spanish giants, continued: “We are so proud because we knew they had the best player in the world.
So we are so happy to keep the clean sheet in front of our fans.
“But although we won 3-0, we know it is not finished. There are a lot of things that can happen. We wanted to win and we want to win again next week and qualify. We don’t have to be scared going there (to the Bernabeu). We want to go there and win the game.
“It gives us a lot of confidence for what is coming next. We have to keep going like this, even if we have a young team, we can win. It was one of the best (nights of my career) and I hope it’s not the last one.” Arsenal, 11 points behind Liverpool in the Premier League with just seven matches to play, will return to action at home to Brentford on Saturday before they head to the Spanish capital for the return leg in Spain next Wednesday. (PAMedia/DPA)
