I’m scripting this column as I fly again to London from Madrid and I’m truthfully discovering it powerful to sum up precisely how I’m feeling after final night time’s occasions within the Bernabeu.
It simply doesn’t get any greater than what Arsenal did on the residence of the 15-time European champions. They got here of age in entrance of our eyes. It was simply very, very particular to witness.
Declan Rice was phenomenal over the 2 legs.
That was nearly as good a 180 minute efficiency as you will note from a participant on the most important stage.
Clearly he bought loads of reward after his free-kicks within the first leg, and rightly so, however the efficiency he produced on the Bernabeu was nearly as good because it will get.
He was a colossus within the coronary heart of midfield. I don’t assume there was a single blade of grass on that pitch that he didn’t cowl.
It was a tireless show. A efficiency for the ages on the most important of levels from Arsenal’s £105 million man.
It didn’t matter who he was up towards, no-one may get close to him.
He was simply all over the place, from breaking apart Madrid assaults at one finish to driving Arsenal ahead on the different.
You’ll be able to’t actually single one factor out with regards to his efficiency and that’s what makes it so particular. It simply encapsulated the whole lot that you simply want or need from a midfielder.
The proper all spherical show.
Jude Bellingham couldn’t address Declan Rice – and it confirmed
You can see how annoyed Jude Bellingham was by all of it. Like all the perfect gamers, Bellingham clearly has an ego, you’ll be able to see that by the best way he performs and to be honest it’s that conceitedness that sees him stand out from most different gamers. He feeds off it.
However his ego was clearly bruised by the best way Rice monstered him over the 2 legs.
There was just one England star midfielder on the pitch on the Emirates and on the Bernabeu and it definitely wasn’t Bellingham.
It was a troublesome begin to the season for Rice. Like most gamers who had been on the Euros and gone deep into the competitors he struggled to actually hit his prime kind over the opening months of the marketing campaign.
However he’s there now and he has been for the previous couple of months.
Only a few huge cash signings reside as much as their value tags. You simply have to take a look at the most important transfers in soccer historical past to see that.
The worth tags weigh closely on most, but it surely doesn’t on Rice.
“Declan Rice, we bought him half value” is the music that the Arsenal followers sing. It’s very exhausting to argue towards that.
