After 338 professional appearances without a free-kick goal to his name, Declan Rice scored not one but two in a single night. But not just any night. Arsenal’s 3-0 demolition of Real Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final will go down in history, and Rice’s brace of stunning set-pieces was the story of the night.
Did anyone see this result coming for Arsenal?! ?pic.twitter.com/SYBouBvCU5
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The first came just before the hour mark. With the score level at 0-0 and the Emirates tense, Rice stepped up from the left edge of the area. Despite set-piece coach Nicolas Jover signalling for a cross, Rice saw an opportunity.
“I looked at the wall and the keeper and said I could bend it,” Rice told Amazon Prime post-match. “Bukayo [Saka] said, ‘If you feel it, go for it.’ So I did.”
He bent the ball perfectly around a small Madrid wall and beyond Thibaut Courtois, the first free-kick goal of his senior career after just 12 previous attempts.
Watch this UNREAL angle of Declan Rice’s strike from the stands for his first free-kick against Real Madrid! ? pic.twitter.com/TZZwbdrCd6
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If the first was sublime, the second, just 12 minutes later, was outrageous.
This time from deeper, further right, Rice launched a ferocious effort over the wall and into the top corner at Courtois’ near post. As Clarence Seedorf said after the game: “Not even Superman would get it,” let alone the 6ft 7in Belgian keeper…
Declan Rice that is incredible! ? pic.twitter.com/kTwPV6LBTE
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Rice became the first player in Champions League knockout history to score two free-kicks in a single match – a feat previously only achieved in the group stages by icons like Ronaldo and Neymar. Arsenal hadn’t scored a direct free-kick since Martin Ødegaard’s effort vs Burnley in 2021. Rice, on Tuesday night, changed all that.
Before tonight, Declan Rice has never scored a free-kick goal in his life.
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He’s now the first player in UCL history to score two direct free-kicks in a knockout stage match! pic.twitter.com/9DfRHfNo5p
“It’s been in the locker,” Rice said. “But I’ve hit the wall too many times or it’s gone over the bar. After the first one went in, I just had the confidence.”
Arsenal captain Ødegaard and manager Mikel Arteta were left speechless. Arteta later called the goals “magic moments” and said: “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 sum up the night.”
Former Real Madrid and Brazil legend Roberto Carlos was spotted in the crowd looking stunned. Courtois later admitted: “I thought I’d positioned the wall well. I usually put an extra man in. I take responsibility for that – I could have put an extra man in – but I thought [Rice] wouldn’t get as much curl on it. And the second goal is a great goal.”
Scoring a curling free-kick with Roberto Carlos in the crowd against Real Madrid.
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Declan Rice won't be forgetting that one ? pic.twitter.com/Pq3wu9rRMW
Thierry Henry, speaking on CBS, was full of praise: “The position of the wall is questionable, especially when you have two men on the ball. You cannot have only four players there because that ball is easy to bend around. But for Declan Rice to realise it, and whoever was with him also to let him do it, that’s outstanding.”
On the second Rice goal: “There is nothing you can do. You can put 10 goalkeepers there, they will never save it.”
The Emirates crowd was electric. Arsenal, now with one foot in the semi-finals for the first time since 2009, still have work to do in Madrid.
“We’re not going back to defend,” Rice said. “We’re going to attack.
“But even if we’re 3-0 up, the individual quality they have is scary.
“At the Bernabeu, special things happen for them.
“We want to win this competition, but we have to take it one game at a time.”
The Gunners have moved into second favourites on Bet9ja to lift the trophy in May. Want to get involved? Bet on Arsenal to win the UCL here!
