Declan Rice etched his name into Arsenal folklore with a jaw-dropping display that saw him stun Real Madrid and propel Arsenal to a commanding 3-0 lead in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at the Emirates Stadium.
This was a second meeting between the two in Europe and the first at Emirates. The first clash ended barren at the Highbury in the 2005/2006 season but Arsenal, the eventual finalists stunned the Bernabeu through Thierry Henry’s 47th minute strike that ended Madrid’s Champions League hope that season. Arsenal lost 2-1 to Barcelona in the final and has since been far from reaching that feat.
The English midfielder, often lauded for his tenacity and versatility, unveiled a new dimension to his game by scoring two breathtaking free-kicks that left the footballing world in awe.
The first came in the 58th minute, a moment of pure brilliance as Rice stepped up to a set-piece just outside the penalty area. With the Real Madrid wall meticulously arranged and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois poised, Rice curled an exquisite shot that bent around the defenders and nestled into the far corner, sending the home crowd into raptures.
It was a strike of such precision and beauty that it instantly drew comparisons to the free-kick mastery of legends like David Beckham and Juninho Pernambucano.
But Rice wasn’t done. Twelve minutes later, in the 70th minute, he stood over another free-kick, this time from a slightly tighter angle.
The Emirates held its breath as he struck the ball with venomous accuracy, whipping it over the wall and into the top corner, beyond Courtois’s despairing dive.
The stadium erupted, and pundits scrambled to find superlatives for what they had just witnessed—two direct free-kick goals in a single match, a feat unprecedented in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
These were Rice’s first-ever direct free-kick goals in his professional career, transforming a night that was already electric into one for the history books. His brace made him the first player to achieve such a milestone in the competition’s knockout rounds, a statistic that underscored the magnitude of his contribution.
The rout was completed in the 75th minute when Mikel Merino rose highest to head in a pinpoint cross from Bukayo Saka, capping a near-perfect performance from Mikel Arteta’s men.
Arsenal’s dominance was total, with their high-pressing game suffocating Real Madrid’s star-studded lineup, including the likes of Vinicius Jr. and Jude Bellingham, who were rendered ineffective by a resolute Arsenal defense marshaled by William Saliba and Jurrien Timber.
For Real Madrid, the defending champions and 15-time winners of the competition, the night was a humbling one. Manager Carlo Ancelotti cut a frustrated figure on the sidelines as his side struggled to cope with Arsenal’s intensity and Rice’s unexpected set-piece wizardry.
The victory shifted the tie firmly in Arsenal’s favor ahead of the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Real Madrid will need a miracle to overturn the deficit.
