Arsenal have made incredible headway ahead of their Champions League return leg with Real Madrid
Mikel Arteta, Getty Images
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta summed up the results of the confrontation with Real Madrid (3:0) in the first match of the 1/4 finals of the Champions League. The Gunners' coach singled out the performance of Declan Rice, who scored twice.
“I had no doubt that we could play a brilliant game because that was in the air during our preparation for the match. We believed in it. We believed that we could cause Real Madrid a lot of problems. That was the main message of the game – let's make it happen.”
“Rice? He was very determined. After all, we had been telling him for the last few months that we hadn't scored from direct free kicks since September 2021. The pause had been very long, and now a player who had never scored from free kicks before had scored two such masterful goals. And who would have thought, right?”
“This evening was about two other things: the atmosphere we created before the game started, which I had never seen before, and the magical moments that decide football matches. Declan's first two goals summed up the evening.”
“We had a completely complete and truly collective game. In terms of organization and what you need to do, that's what it takes to create problems for Madrid.”
See also: Arsenal vs. Real Madrid. Video review of the match for April 8
Recall that Rice effectively converted two penalty kicks. Mikel Merino summed up the match with an accurate strike. Ukrainian Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko was included in the application for this match, but spent the entire game on the bench. His compatriot, Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, was absent from the Blancos application due to injury.
The return match between the teams will take place on Wednesday, April 16. The game starts at 22:00.