Rice freekicks stun Madrid as Arsenal take first-leg lead in UCL Quarters

ARTICLE AD BOX

Declan Rice scored two superb freekicks for Arsenal in a 3-0 victory over Real Madrid in a Champions League quarter­finals clash at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

After a goalless first half which saw the visitors have more of the ball, the Gunners turned around to put up a unique performance after the break to thrash the defending champions.

Rice opened scoring when he converted a freekick in the 58th minute and doubled their lead when he converted a second freekick on 70 minutes.

Mikel Arteta’s side continued to press and had their third five minutes later when Mikel Merino finished off stylishly to seal the rout.

Read Also: EPL: Arsenal drop points at Everton as Wolves boost survival hopes

Real Madrid ended the game with 10 men as frustrated Eduardo Camavinga hammered the ball away late on, and he was shown a second yellow card and sent off.

Arsenal have not reached the semi-finals stage of the Champions League since the 2008-09 season, but they are now one foot into the last four.

They face Real Madrid in the second leg at the Bernabeu next Tuesday.

In Munich, Bayern were stunned by visiting Inter Milan, who sealed a 2-1 victory over their hosts in the first-leg clash.

The second leg at the San Siro takes place on Wednesday, 16 April with the overall winners going on to play either Barcelona or Borussia Dortmund in the two-legged semi-final.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now

Read Entire Article