Declan Rice revealed the role Bukayo Saka played in his first free kick against Real Madrid on Tuesday, saying his Arsenal teammate encouraged him to “go for it” despite set-piece coach Nicolas Jover urging him to cross.
The England international scored two sensational free kicks to lead Arsenal to a 3-0 win over Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.
In the leadup to the first free kick, Jover was seen motioning Rice to whip the ball. Given the coach’s outsized influence on Arsenal’s setpiece productivity this season, it was assumed Jover was the one who advised Rice to bend his shot around the wall. However, the 26-year-old said he was telling him the opposite.
“He [Jover] is telling me to cross. It didn’t make sense. I’m happy I took it. Bukayo said, ‘If you feel it, go for it.’ I looked at the wall and the keeper and thought, ‘I can bend this around the outside,'” Rice said post-match.
“It’s been in the locker, but I’ve hit the wall too many times or it’s gone over the bar. Originally we were going to cross it and I’ve just seen the wall and goalkeeper’s position. So I thought just go for it.
“The second one, it looks far out. At first I was going to go over the wall but I practise going to the keeper’s side a lot and I just went with it. After the first I just had the confidence.
“It’s not going to hit me now because there’s another leg to go. I’m over the moon. But in a few years’ time this will really hit me that what I’ve done tonight was really special. All my career I’ve had people telling me to shoot more and that I need to create more stuff. It’s confidence. I need to keep reminding myself that I can do it.”
Rice’s strikes were his first-ever goals from a free kick and put Arsenal in a commanding position to reach their first Champions League semifinal since 2009.
