In a historic night for Arsenal, Declan Rice scored two free-kicks in their 3-0 Champions League quarter-final first-leg win over Real Madrid at the Emirates. Rice, who had never scored a free-kick in his 339-game career, netted after 58 and 70 minutes to become the first player to score two free-kicks in a Champions League knockout match. The opener was a curling strike into the top corner that left Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard and boss Mikel Arteta with their heads in disbelief. The second goal was even better, with Rice stepping up to the free-kick again and finding the top corner. After the game, Rice said he'd gone back to his phone and it had gone crazy, adding that he was speechless at what he'd done. Arsenal's free-kicks are usually taken by Bukayo Saka or Odegaard, but Rice told Saka he was confident and the winger responded "if you feel it, go for it." The opener was the goal that Arsenal deserved for their dominance, but the best was yet to come. The win puts Arsenal in a strong position for the return leg at the Bernabeu on 16 April, but Real Madrid are a different beast at home and will only need to look back to 2022 when they overturned a 5-3 aggregate score against Manchester City in the final minutes.
Source: BBC Sports Football
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