Mikel Arteta hailed Declan Rice’s magical double set-piece strike against Real Madrid and then insisted Arsenal have “a lot more to give” in their historic bid to win the Champions League.
Rice opened the scoring at the Emirates with the first direct free-kick of his career on 58 minutes before landing a second 12 minutes later.
Mikel Merino scored the third with 75 minutes gone as Arsenal sealed a 3-0 win at the Emirates to take a major step towards the semi-finals ahead of next week’s return leg at the Bernabeu.
Prior to Tuesday’s match, Rice had never scored from a direct free-kick in 338 professional appearances. Arsenal had also failed to find the net from a direct set-piece in almost four years, with their last coming via Martin Odegaard against Burnley in September 2021.
Here, captain Odegaard put his hands on his head in disbelief when Rice completed his set-piece double.
And Arteta said: “Declan’s been very determined because we have said in the last few months that we have not scored a direct free-kick in three-and-half years.
“So, 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 sums up the night.”
On the eve of the first leg, Arteta said he was convinced his side could beat the 15-time European Cup winners, and so it proved on a truly one-sided evening in north London that will possibly go down as the club’s finest on the European stage, and their best triumph since they moved to the Emirates in 2006 – months after they saw off Real Madrid over two legs on their way to the Champions League final.
Arsenal, 11 points behind Liverpool in the Premier League with just eight matches left, will play Brentford at the Emirates on Saturday before next week’s return rubber in the Spanish capital.
Arteta continued: “When you have not played against this team for the past 20 years, and not had a proper run in this competition, you have to be prepared to write your own history, and it is on nights like this where you can do that. We did that but we have a lot more to give.”
Carlo Ancelotti’s side were left dumbstruck when Merino rattled in Arsenal’s third with 15 minutes remaining. Eduardo Camavinga was then sent off in stoppage time when he received a second yellow card.
“If you look at the game tonight there is no possibility (of a comeback at the Bernabeu) – but nobody expected Rice would score two goals from set-pieces, so in football anything can happen,” said Ancelotti.
“The possibility is low but we have to try 100 per cent, and do all we can. It is an opportunity to show a response to a poor game.”
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