Rice freekicks stun Madrid as Arsenal take first-leg lead in UCL Quarters

Rice freekicks stun Madrid as Arsenal take first-leg lead in UCL Quarters

Declan Rice scored two superb freekicks for Arsenal in a 3-0 victory over Real Madrid in a Champions League quarter­finals clash at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

After a goalless first half which saw the visitors have more of the ball, the Gunners turned around to put up a unique performance after the break to thrash the defending champions.

Rice opened scoring when he converted a freekick in the 58th minute and doubled their lead when he converted a second freekick on 70 minutes.

Mikel Arteta’s side continued to press and had their third five minutes later when Mikel Merino finished off stylishly to seal the rout.

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Real Madrid ended the game with 10 men as frustrated Eduardo Camavinga hammered the ball away late on, and he was shown a second yellow card and sent off.

Arsenal have not reached the semi-finals stage of the Champions League since the 2008-09 season, but they are now one foot into the last four.

They face Real Madrid in the second leg at the Bernabeu next Tuesday.

In Munich, Bayern were stunned by visiting Inter Milan, who sealed a 2-1 victory over their hosts in the first-leg clash.

The second leg at the San Siro takes place on Wednesday, 16 April with the overall winners going on to play either Barcelona or Borussia Dortmund in the two-legged semi-final.

Source: Ripples Nigeria