london: Declan Rice put Arsenal on the brink of reaching the Champions League semifinals by curling home two free-kicks that Real Madrid’s most famous “galacticos” would have been proud of.
Rice opened the scoring by bending one free-kick around the Madrid wall in the 58th minute and sent another into the top corner in the 70th as Arsenal won the first leg of the quarterfinals 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
With Madrid great Roberto Carlos looking on in the stands, Rice put on a display of power and bend reminiscent of the many free kicks scored by the Brazilian defender in his day — or by his teammates David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Figo for that matter.
Unlike those names, Rice has not been known for his free kick prowess — until now. In fact, he had never scored from a direct free-kick before in his career. “It’s been in the locker, but I’ve hit the wall too many times or it’s gone over the bar,” Rice said.
In the other quarterfinal Tuesday, Inter Milan’s treble chances are very much on after they won 2-1 at Bayern Munich in the first leg.