Former Real Madrid Star Not Impressed With Declan Rice’s Free-Kicks; Blames Los Blancos For The Goals
Declan Rice stole the show as Arsenal beat Real Madrid 3-0 in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg at The Emirates on April 9. The England international scored two spectacular free-kicks during the contest.
His first was a curler around the wall in the 58th minute. Rice beat Thibaut Courtois in the far post for his second from the other side of the pitch (70'). Mikel Merino scored another spectacular goal (75') to make it 3-0. To make matters worse for Real Madrid, Eduardo Camavinga was sent off in injury time after picking up a second yellow card.
It's hard to remember the last time a player scored two free kicks of suck quality in a UEFA Champions League knockout game. Former Los Blancos star Wesley Sneijder, though, wasn't too impressed and thinks Carlo Ancelotti's side needs to take the blame for those free-kick goals. He thinks the wall didn't do its job in the first goal, while Courtois misjudged the second.
Speaking on Ziggo Sports (h/t AD), Sneijder said:
That wall wasn’t positioned properly for that first goal. He [Courtois] assumes that [Bukayo] Saka will take it, he is a left-footer. Then he can move the wall a bit more to the right, so that he can take his own corner. A right-footed player should never be able to shoot around the wall from that angle. That’s not allowed.Wesley Sneijder
Sneijder added that it's easy for a right-footed player to curl the ball around the wall if he manages a good striker. Sneijder was also critical of the second goal from Rice, saying:
This one is quite far. If you watch the replay, you see Courtois take a step to the right. As a result, he has no chance in his own corner. That’s because of the uncertainty of that first goal. He hops up, no chance, bye, then you’re gone. If he stands in his own corner and trusts his wall, he’ll save it.Wesley Sneijder
Real Madrid have a mountain to climb in the second leg. They have done it several times already in the UCL, but Los Blancos' current form doesn't look promising.
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Apratim is an experienced sports journalist having covered European and World Football, Combat Sports, Olympic Sports, and more for online media publications like Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports, and more. He is currently an MSc. in Sport Marketing student at Loughborough University, London.