Deciding to take charge ahead of his captain and struggling club set piece coach, Arsenal’s Declan Rice was nothing short of inspired as he stroked home a pair of magnificent free kicks to help secure a 3-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.
And when the Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka was taken out in a central position, 30 metres from goal, shortly before the hour mark at The Emirates Stadium with the score 0-0 Rice turned to skipper Martin Odegaard, who told him to send in a cross.
That was the message from coach Nicolas Jover from the touchline who, given Rice had never scored a direct free kick in over 300 senior career games, it was some good advice in a scrap of such high stakes.
But the 26-year-old had other plans and unleashed a right-footed blast that bent around the wall and inside the post past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois — a strike that would have made watching Brazilian great Roberto Carlos proud.
Twelve minutes later Rice was at it again, floating another unrepentant effort to the top corner from a similar position to become the first player ever to convert two direct free kicks at the knockout phase of the Champions League.
“I’m kind of speechless to tell you the truth. To get those two goals, it’s such a big night for us to get them for the club and to beat Real Madrid, such a historic club in this competition it’s massive,” Rice told BT Sport in a pitch-side interview.
When asked what was being said in the huddle before his first goal, Rice said the original plan was to cross the ball into the danger area as he is so good at doing.
“We set up three at the back (post) for a reverse cross but Bukayo said if you feel it and I thought ‘you know what I’m going to take this’ and when it went in it was the best feeling in the world.
“It was such an acute angle to cross the ball from that side so it must have been such a delicate ball if so and I just thought go for it.
“(Jover’s) signing it but he’s instructed me to cross it! You have to capitalize on those moments in games. I’m glad I took it because it was a magic moment.
“Then after the first one I had confidence (for the second one) and nothing to lose.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta appeared just as taken aback when Rice’s first sizzling effort hit the net.
“That’s the beauty of whoever created this sport. We hadn’t scored a (direct) free kick in since September 2021. And this evening, in the home Champions League against Real Madrid, we scored two in 13 minutes,” the Spaniard said.
“If there’s one player who can do it, how clean he hits it, it’s Declan.
Mikel Merino’s third goal on the night makes Arsenal mere feet away from the semifinals for the first time since 2009 but Rice insists nothing is sewn up yet against the record 15-times winners.
“It is frightening, the individual quality they have and what they can produce, even when we are 3-0 up.” And also it’s the Bernabeu and in Champions League, special things happen there for them. We are prepared to get there and leave it all out there.’