In a tie stacked with nearly one-third of this year’s Ballon d’Or shortlist, one player stood out above the rest in Arsenal’s Champions League tie with Real Madrid.
Sit down, Kylian Mbappe. Don’t get up, Vinicius Junior. Step aside for a moment, Jude Bellingham — Declan Rice wants a word.
In the second Champions League quarter-final of his career, Rice put in back-to-back man-of-the-match performances to help Arsenal to the final four of the competition for the first time since 2009.
Many will point to Rice’s two world-class free kicks in the first leg clash as the key reason why he was lauded individually, but there was so much more to his wider performance that was the catalyst for Arsenal’s success across both games.
“He was decisive today in a different way, I think it was immense,” Mikel Arteta said after the game on Wednesday evening.
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“His presence, the power that he showed, how composed he was — with or without the ball — I think he led the team in many moments and turns the game in our favour. I think that’s why we need players at his level to step up and have a big contribution and he certainly has done that.”
Tactically, Arteta was astute in keeping Rice in positions where he could best punish Madrid. In the first leg, Myles Lewis-Skelly’s ability to drift into midfield alongside Thomas Partey meant Arsenal were able to build up with ease against Madrid’s passive 4-4-2 — with Mbappe and Vinicius Jr doing little to prevent any progression into the middle third.
That meant Rice could intelligently position himself in an advanced position behind Madrid’s midfield line before driving forward and instantly bearing down on their defence.
Not satisfied with just pulling wide or coming short to receive the ball, Rice showed early on at the Emirates how much he was willing to stretch Madrid’s back line with his own runs in behind.
Again, Lewis-Skelly receives the ball with little pressure as Rice lurks between the lines. This time, he exploits the space in advanced areas by making a diagonal run behind Raul Asencio before bouncing the ball back to Mikel Merino.
This move came to nothing, but it showed Rice’s desire to get forward and pull Madrid out of shape. Such was the attacking intent that Rice had in the first leg that no player managed more than his five shots across both teams.
The same was true for the second leg at the Bernabeu. When Arsenal built through the thirds, Rice would pull outside the Madrid block to receive in space before firing a pass inside or looking to Gabriel Martinelli on the left flank.
In truth, Wednesday evening showed a different side to Arsenal from the first leg, with deep penalty-box defending that would regularly see them form a back five, six, and sometimes seven when Madrid looked to aimlessly cross into a congested space.
Rice would regularly be the one to hoover up the loose balls or intercept a pass (no player on the pitch made more than his five interceptions), with a front-footed approach throughout.
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Thankfully, that did not include a penalty concession, after a soft challenge on Mbappe was correctly overturned — meaning he had his yellow card rescinded, one that would have kept him out of the first leg of Arsenal’s semi-final clash with PSG.
That front-footed attitude was shown in the opening minutes in Madrid, as Rice cut out a pass before driving forward through the heart of the pitch — much like his run against Brentford the weekend before — to drag Arsenal up the pitch and kickstart a counter-attack.
Madrid were blunt in attack for long periods, but as the game became increasingly stretched in the second half, Rice was often in the right place at the right time.
In a rare potent counter-attack led by Federico Valverde, Rice tracked Vinicius Jr stride for stride before intercepting a dangerous pass to prevent the ball reaching either the Brazilian or Mbappe.
With the tie all but over and three minutes of normal time to play, Rice still mustered the energy to drop into the back line to head away (yet another) cross from Madrid’s Fran Garcia.
With defensive awareness befitting his days as a centre-back earlier in his career, it felt as though the ball was magnetised to Rice as he contorted his body to clear the ball behind him and away from danger.
While a lot of his in-possession actions were pushed to the left flank in a similar fashion to the first leg, note his defensive actions from his player dashboard — the second-most of any player on the pitch — with many either in, or in front of, his own penalty area.
Heading into the tie, the obvious narrative was how Rice would fare against England midfield team-mate Bellingham. The fact the narrative dissipated rather quickly is testament to the 26-year-old’s performance.
A robust challenge set the tone within three minutes at the Bernabeu, with Rice being stronger, sharper, and quicker than his compatriot as he won the midfield battle. He even had time for a small rough-and-tumble after an agricultural challenge from Bellingham at the start of the second half.
In truth, it was little more than a stare-down between the two, but it showed the degree to which Rice had frustrated Bellingham and his team-mates.
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Rudiger on the rampage, rugby tackles, and Rice vs Bellingham – breaking down the chaos at the Bernabeu
Of course, there were some incredible performances across the pitch for Arsenal, with Bukayo Saka and Lewis-Skelly particularly worthy of praise across both legs. However, no player typified Arsenal’s grit and determination more than Rice — with two throwback, all-action, Roy of the Rovers-style performances that will live long in the memory.
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Rice is often labelled as a workhorse for his team, but such an over-simplistic tag would be to underestimate his wider skill set. On the biggest stage against Madrid, he had the tactical intelligence and technical execution to match his typical industry. It will only propel his status further in the European game.
(Top photo: Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)
