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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Alex Young

Arsenal: Declan Rice reveals what Bukayo Saka said to him seconds before scoring TWO free kicks

Declan Rice has revealed the piece of advice Bukayo Saka gave him just before he scored the first free kick of his career as Arsenal beat Real Madrid on Tuesday evening.

Rice scored two stunning free kicks, the first two of his professional career, as the Gunners ran out 3-0 winners in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

"It's been in the locker," Rice said when asked by Amazon Prime about scoring the free kicks, adding: "But I've hit the wall too many times or it's gone over the bar.

"Originally we were going to cross it and then I've just seen the wall and the goalkeeper's position. So I thought just go for it. And Bukayo [Saka] said to just feel it. The second one I had the confidence. I hit it.

"It didn't make sense to cross it, the line was too high and to chip the ball, was too much of a risk ... I looked at the wall and the keeper and I thought 'I'm going to hit it.'"

He added: “It's not going to hit me now because there's another leg to go. I'm excited, I'm happy, I'm over the moon. But in a few years time this will really hit me that what I've done tonight was really special."

Mikel Merino added a third to leave Arsenal with a huge advantage as they now look ahead to next week's second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Rice added: “We need to be ready for next week. The Bernabeu, what it's like to play there. We need to be ready."

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