"I’ve not seen him do that before" - Real Madrid star admits he was 'surprised' by Declan Rice's free-kick goals in loss to Arsenal
Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham admitted that he was surprised by Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice's free-kicks when the two sides met last Tuesday, April 08. The Gunners emerged victorious by a 3-0 scoreline in their first-leg UEFA Champions League quarter-final match against Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium.
Quite shockingly, it was Rice who opened the scoring by bending a free kick around the wall in the 58th minute. He found the net once more from a dead ball situation just 12 minutes later, rifling it into the top corner.
Shocked by these two attempts, Bellingham, who plays alongside Rice for England told the press ahead of the second leg (via @MadridXtra):
“Arsenal surprised us? Declan Rice’s free-kicks were surprising, I’ve not seen him do that before (laughs). So fair play to him.”
The pair know each other fairly well, having shared the pitch 32 times across competitions for The Three Lions. What makes this instance more puzzling is that the 26-year-old had never scored a direct free-kick in his club football career prior to this.
Arsenal fans will be delighted to see the impact that Rice is having in the final third of the pitch these days. This year, he's made 44 appearances across competitions, bagging seven goals and nine assists.
The second leg of this encounter between the Gunners and Real Madrid will take place on Wednesday, April 16, at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Rio Ferdinand makes Arsenal v Real Madrid second-leg prediction
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has predicted the Gunners to go through after the second-leg quarter-final tie against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.
Mikel Arteta's side go into this tie on the back of a 1-1 draw against Brentford on Saturday, April 12. Despite that, Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel (via Metro):
"I think it’s going to be too much. Listen, I think Arsenal will go through. I think they’ve got too much."
‘I think this Madrid team looked a bit disjointed the other day, the balance of the team and the squad hasn’t been right and they’ve been conceding goals left, right and centre. [Bukayo] Saka coming back was the big thing and it changed everything."
Bukayo Saka return was timely for the Gunners, given he's made 28 appearances across competitions this campaign, bagging 10 goals and 14 assists. The north Londoners did not have a natural replacement for Saka and had to turn to youngster Ethan Nwaneri in his absence.