Arsenal is a team that has become renowned for their threat to the sets, but direct free kicks are something different.
Arteta said that after the match, they had not scored since September 2021, so to mark two in 13 minutes against Real Madrid “showed the beauty of the one who invented this sport”.
Arsenal’s free kicks are generally taken by Bukayo Saka or Odegaard, but Rice said he had seen the space around the Madrid wall for the first goal and told Saka that he was confident.
The English winger replied “If you feel it, go ahead” – and he will be happy that he did it.
“It didn’t make sense of this angle to cross the ball (which Arsenal’s sex coach, Nicolas Jover, reported to do on the sideline). He should be a delicate pass,” added Rice.
“I am happy to have taken it because it was magic.”
This did not prevent Jover who rises to celebrate and Rice said that the coach “claimed him”.
Arteta added: “He can claim it if it wants, it doesn’t matter. It’s incredible.”
The opener was the objective that Arsenal deserved for their domination, but the best was not yet to come.
Alan Shearer said that it was “absolutely incredible” and that the former Real Madrid midfielder Clarence Seedorf said “that even Superman would not get it”.
“It seems far away, you don’t even realize. We were going to touch it and put it – me and Martin (Odegaard), but Mbappe was a little too close.
“But then, I thought I have the side of the goalkeeper, I practice that so much – I was going to go. I had the confidence of the first. If it was reviewing, it would not matter.
“It’s not going to hit me now because there is another leg to do. I am excited, I am happy, I am on the moon.
“It is in the locker, but I hit the wall too many times where it has passed over the bar.
“But in a few years, it will really hit me that what I did tonight was really special.”
For Rice, it was his biggest moment so far in an arsenal shirt, but Arteta and midfielder Mikel Merino – who scored the third goal – were not surprised by the way the former man of West Ham got up.
“If there is a player who can do it, how much he strikes him, it’s Declan,” said Arteta.
“But you have to execute it at the highest level. And against one of the best guards in the world too. It’s incredible.
“He has been very determined because we have been talking in recent months. He has done it tonight.”
Merino added: “He has one of the best shooting skills I saw in my career. I am not surprised, maybe you are. I hope that more will come in the future.”
The former defender of Arsenal Matthew Upson told BBC Radio 5 Live that it was “one night to remember” for Rice and that he “made the difference alone”.
