Who knew that Declan Rice would be able to bend a free-kick like Beckham? In the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final. And not just once, either. On a red-letter occasion for Arsenal, probably the finest since the Emirates Stadium opened in 2006, their key midfielder brought the house down; Real Madrid to their knees, as well.
It is never wise to write off the Champions League holders, the 15‑time winners – the club that have the patent on astonishing comebacks. Surely not this time.
Rice had never scored from a direct free-kick in his nine-season professional career. That took in 338 previous games for Arsenal and West Ham; 64 for England, too. That he did it twice inside 12 second-half minutes had grown men and women rubbing their eyes and contending with extraordinary levels of delirium.
Rice’s conversions were marked by precision, a total mastery of the flight of the ball, vicious levels of whip and for Arsenal, there would be even more. The outstanding Myles Lewis-Skelly had carried the fight to Real throughout; they could not cope with his inverted runs into midfield, his shoulder drops and bursts, his searching low passes.
When he went square at the end of yet another Arsenal incision, Mikel Merino swept home for 3-0 and Arsenal could start to dream of the semi-finals and beyond. It was the latest dividend from Merino’s switch to centre forward. To think that he had never played in the position until mid‑February; from it, he now has six goals for Arsenal.
Real had lost at home against Valencia in La Liga on Saturday, conceding a 95th‑minute winner, which is not the kind of thing that is supposed to happen to them. It is normally them driving the last-gasp turnarounds. They now trail Barcelona by four points and the muttering about just how good this team is has been a soundtrack of the season.
The Champions League is the competition that tends to lift their numerous A-listers into Best Actor nomination territory, but not here. Save for a spell of 20 minutes or so in the middle of the first half, they were second best, outrun and outplayed, their misery complete when Eduardo Camavinga was sent off for kicking the ball away at the very end; a second bookable offence.
Rice transcended the night, one of the images of it coming after he had picked out the far, top corner for his second. He jumped on to the top of an advertising board, arms outstretched, literally 10 feet tall. Was that the better goal? It was hard to say because the first was also a beauty.
Rice started the ball a yard or so outside Thibaut Courtois’s left-hand post and he was able to bring it back inside at the very last – halfway up the net. There was a reason why the TV cameras picked out the former Real galactico Roberto Carlos in the crowd and it is worth making the point that the beaten goalkeeper, Courtois, just might be the best in Europe.
It was an extraordinary occasion for Arsenal, the club’s biggest game since 2009-10 when they faced Barcelona in the quarter-final of this competition and lost. The ensuing years have not been kind to the Gunners in terms of the Champions League, their only quarter-final appearance since then and before this coming last season when they fell against Bayern Munich.
How they have craved a night of this type of glamour and it was one when the goosebumps rose on arms around the stadium from the first whistle, the tempo so high.
It was easy to marvel at Real’s threat on the counter, the sheer speed of Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior. But Mikel Arteta’s players seemed intent on answering the call on a pre-match tifo from their fans. “Make it happen,” went the wording.
Arsenal almost got one of their trademark inswinging corners to work in the early going, Courtois losing his bearings and happy to see the ball hit William Saliba, who was almost on the line in front of goal. Thomas Partey would also work Courtois.
Real defended in a 4-4-2 formation, Jude Bellingham dropping to the left of the midfield but they menaced on the transitions in the first half. Their big chance came when Bellingham robbed Jurriën Timber and played a pass in behind for Mbappé, who turned on the jets. David Raya stood tall to block.
Back came Arsenal before the interval and it was Bukayo Saka to the fore. He tricked and teased, getting around the outside but nobody in red could read his crosses. Rice would pop up on to one from Timber on 45 minutes only for Courtois to repel his header and block the follow-up shot from Gabriel Martinelli.
It was Saka who won the free-kicks for Rice’s goals and, in between times, Courtois saved from Martinelli and after Merino’s follow-up was cleared off the line by David Alaba, the goalkeeper turned over when Merino shot again. Bellingham also cleared a Rice shot off the line. It was simply a scintillating Arsenal performance.
