Mikel Arteta hoped the injuries that forced Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice off the pitch in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid were not “serious” as he insisted the Gunners have more to give in next week’s Champions League second leg.
Rice scored two sublime free-kicks on a “magical” night for Arsenal while Saka enjoyed an excellent return on his first start in four months following a hamstring injury, winning the free-kick where Rice scored his first goal.
Mikel Merino added a third for Arsenal ahead of next Wednesday’s quarter-final return leg at the Bernabeu but Saka and Rice hobbled off before full-time. Arteta confirmed Saka had a “knock” and Rice “an issue with his foot” but was not overly concerned.
“I think Dec had an issue with the foot, I’m not sure if it was a tackle or what it was and after Bukayo got tackled for the foul, he had a knock and he had to go off,” Arteta said. “It doesn’t look serious, no.”
Rice had never scored a direct free kick in his career and Arsenal had failed to score directly from a set-piece in four years, leading Arteta to conclude that their victory was one to defy logic at the Emirates.
“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?” Arteta said.
“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.”
Arteta added: “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.”
