Real Galacticos? Rice leaves Madrid stars in the dust

RICE, RICE, BABY: Arsenal's Declan Rice reacts whilst VAR check for a possible penalty for Real Madrid after he tackled Kylian Mbappe. Pic: Adam Davy/PA Wire.

Declan Rice has moved himself into Galactico territory with an outstanding performance at the Bernabeu after leading Arsenal into the semi-finals of the Champions League – and leaving Real’s biggest names in the shade in the process.

Rice, who scored two stunning free-kicks in the fist leg as Arsenal won 3-0, this time produced an almost perfect midfield performance as he defended with precision and power and ran the game from the middle of the park – leaving Buyako Saka and Gabriel Marinelli to score the goals in a 2-1 victory.

Who would have thought the former West Ham man would be the talking point of this quarter-final rather than the likes of Kylian Mbappe or Vinicius Jr?

But such is the Arsenal man’s upward trajectory that he was the defining player of a tie in the Bernabeu that was meant to end in another Real Madrid comeback show.

He and Arsenal were so good, and Real’s attacking game was so poor, that you even wonder if this was the day when Real Madrid’s relationship with the football gods finally cracked, broken by an outstanding Arsenal performance that could also send Mikel Arteta’s men into new territory/ Led by Rice, Arsenal produced an away performance that was every bit as good as their attacking display at the Emirates a week earlier.

It ended 2-1, securing a 5-1 victory on aggregate, and if William Saliba had not made an uncharacteristic mistake to allow Vinicius to equalise, it could have been even better.

Rice said: “It’s an historic night for this club and we want to win this competition. We knew we were going to win this game but what a night for the club.” 

The result sets up a semi-final against Paris St Germain as both clubs seek their first ever Champions League trophy, dreaming of starting a new legacy.

By contrast, Real, who have won the trophy a remarkable 15 times, finally failed to defy the odds by creating another comeback memory.

For years, they seem to have had some kind of ethereal advantage when it comes to achieving the impossible and winning matches in improbable fashion, even when opposing sides thought the tie was already done.

If this game had been against any other club, all the pre-match talk would have focused on whether Arsenal could beat PSG in the semi-final and what they could learn from Aston Villa’s performance 24 hours earlier.

But this is Real Madrid and they cleverly shifted the debate to be all about La Remontada. They were only able to do that because of their history of delivering so many fightbacks in this competition.

Manchester City and Chelsea can both attest to the power of the Bernabeu and to the depth of Real’s self-belief even when they seem dead and buried.

Even the ‘la decima’ final of 2014 saw Real come from behind against rivals Atletico, winning 4-1 despite being behind until the 93rd minute.

But what we saw in this contest in the Bernabeu was an Arsenal side equipped to keep even the gods at bay.

It didn’t seem it would be that way when Courtois saved Bukayo Saka’s early penalty, but the game twisted when referee François Letexier awarded the home side a penalty of their own for a foul by Declan Rice on Mbappe, only to overturn it after a five-minute VAR investigation.

It was a turning point for Arsenal that quietened the crowd, quietened the belief, and made Real wonder where those football gods had disappeared to.

Even so, regardless of the goalless scoreline at half-time, nobody wanted to write off Real. 

This was, after all, their 40th quarter-final in the European Cup, 33 of them won. Arsenal, by contrast, were trying to reach the semi-finals for only the third time in their entire history.

Now they may finally believe it’s a trophy they can win.

Arsenal had heroes right across the pitch, it wasn’t only Rice. Saka, a penalty villain early on when he tried and failed with a Panenka, eventually produced an exquisite dinked finish to put Arsenal 1-0 ahead, whilst Gabriel Martinelli (who scored a stunning late winner on the break) and Martin Odegaard both did well.

But the biggest legends were in defence, where Saliba (until his gaffe) and Jurrien Timber were outstanding – and Jakob Kiwior grew in stature as he deputised for the injured Gabriel. 

There should be a mention, too, for young Myles Lewis-Skelly, who at the age of just 18 was nerveless.

The reality was that Arsenal were better off the ball, and on the break, than Real were on it – and you can be certain there will be big questions asked in the Spanish media about Mbappe’s lack of impact in the kind of game he was bought to win.

But not every Galactico is a fancy Dan with a bag full of tricks. There’s room for a player like Rice in that category – and now he has an opportunity to take the plaudits.