Bend it like Beckham Rice!
Declan Rice helped Arsenal to perhaps their greatest ever Champions League night on Tuesday, as the Gunners thrashed Real Madrid 3-0 at the Emirates. The North Londoners have one foot in the semi-finals after a convincing victory against the holders in London.
Rice took centre stage with two brilliant goals for Arsenal, bending home a fantastic free-kick for the opener before going one better just 12 minutes later. A second, spectacular, set-piece left Thibaut Courtois with no chance as the 26-year-old postage-stamped the strike into the top corner.
Mikel Arteta has regularly used Rice as a corner taker for Arsenal, who have become the Premier League’s set-piece specialists in recent seasons. However, goalscoring from free-kicks had not been on Rice’s résumé – until now.
Incredibly, Rice’s free-kick double against Real Madrid were the first direct free-kicks he’s scored in his senior career. Having gone 381 games without scoring a free-kick (admittedly, not taking many), he blasted in two special strikes against the Spanish giants on an unforgettable evening for Arsenal.
Declan Rice direct free-kicks scored in his career to date (matches with full data coverage):
◎ 0 – First 381 matches
◉ 2 – Inside 12 minutes vs Real Madrid tonight#UCL pic.twitter.com/icrJEHaeQ0— WhoScored (@WhoScored) April 8, 2025
“I don’t know whether it will ever sink in,” Rice told Amazon Prime after the game.
“I’ve gone back to my phone then and it’s gone crazy. To score my first free-kick in a game is a special one. And then when I got the second one… I just had the confidence. I’m speechless really.
“I don’t think it’s going to hit me, what I’ve done tonight. It’s a historic night.”
New trait unlocked.
Read – Champions League highlights: Arsenal stun Real as Inter beat Bayern
See Also – Five who played for both: Arsenal and Real Madrid