Only one player will be over the ball now each time Arsenal receive a free-kick in a good position. That man is Declan Rice after his majestic free-kick double in the Gunners’ 3-0 Champions League win over Real Madrid on Tuesday evening.
Showing his quality on set pieces time and time again with Arsenal profiting from his expert delivery on corner kicks, this time Rice had the opportunity to shoot at goal. Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka are just some of the Arsenal players who have chanced their luck from free-kicks and many Arsenal fans have questioned why on earth Rice hasn’t had a go given what he can produce on the ball.
His world-class double against Real Madrid only highlighted Arsenal’s error in not allowing him to take them sooner. His first of that night was an incredible effort that gave Thibaut Courtois no chance in goal.
Just prior to striking the ball, the pitch side microphones picked up on one Arsenal fan shouting at the midfielder and it was clear for all to hear watching on from home. “Come on Declan, smash it,” was the cry from the supporter. Rice did exactly that.
Arsenal’s No.41 hit the ball so cleanly and it had the pace and whip on it to nestle inside the corner of the goal and leave Courtois completely helpless. Remarkably, his goal was the first direct free-kick he had scored in his senior career.
As good as his first effort was, his second free-kick 12 minutes later was even better. Rice hit the ball with such ferocity that it flew into the top corner of the goal. It was the definition of top corner.
It was an effort that left Martin Odegaard, William Saliba and Jorginho with their hands on their head as they ran over to the far corner of the stadium to celebrate in front of the jubilant Arsenal fans. There was to be no third free-kick for the Arsenal star as he left the pitch on 80 minutes to a standing ovation which he thoroughly deserved after producing such heroics.
Rice was in front of the TV cameras after the game and spoke to Amazon Prime Video about his free-kick prowess. “It’s been in the locker! I’ve hit the wall too many times or it’s gone over the bar,” he said. “Originally we were going to cross it and then I saw the wall and the goalkeeper’s position and thought, for the first one, ‘just go for it’.
“The second one, I just had the confidence and just hit it. It’s not going to hit me yet because there’s another leg to go. I’m over the moon but in a few years time, it’ll really hit me.”
He added on his first goal: “When they were over, I saw the space around the wall and looked at the keeper and that’s why we lined-up with three at the back [post] because we were going to cross it.
“Bukayo said, ‘if you feel it’, and I went, ‘I’m going to take this’, and just hit it. It’s one of those moments.”
The former West Ham man unsurprisingly came in for plenty of praise from Mikel Arteta when the Arsenal head coach was speaking in his post-match press conference.
“He’s been very determined because we have talked in the last few months, we haven’t scored a direct free kick since September 2021; Burnley away, Martin Odegaard,” said Arteta. “So it’s been a long time, so to score two goals in 12 minutes of that magnitude of that quality from the same player, a player that has never scored a free kick before in his career, I mean, what are the odds?
“But he’s done it tonight and I’m a big believer, I think the crowd played something with the energy that they put in and it helped us massively to win the game.”
It may have taken Rice all this time to take a free-kick for Arsenal but it’s safe to say he’ll be over the ball outside the area from now on. Another two in the Santiago Bernabeu next Wednesday would do just nicely.
