Mikel Arteta is confident that the knocks which forced Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice off against Real Madrid are not serious. Arsenal produced a stunning performance to down Real 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday night – and thankfully it seems that injuries won’t take the shine off their achievement.
Rice was the star of the show, conjuring two pinpoint free-kicks to put Arsenal 2-0 up in the second half. Mikel Merino then whipped a third goal into the bottom corner from the edge of the box to give the Gunners a huge advantage ahead of the second leg in the Spanish capital next week.
Saka terrorised David Alaba down Arsenal’s right-hand side, but was taken off for Leandro Trossard in the 74th minute, shortly after being fouled for Rice’s second free-kick. Rice was then replaced by Kieran Tierney in the 80th minute, having received some treatment from the physio on the pitch.
Neither issue appeared to be troubling the England stars much at the time and Arteta confirmed in his post-match press conference that he isn’t concerned about their fitness. “I think Dec had an issue with the foot, I’m not sure if it was a tackle or what it was and after Bukayo got tackled for the foul, he had a knock and he had to go off,” he said. “It doesn’t look serious, no.”
Arsenal have been very careful with Saka since he returned from the hamstring injury which kept him out for over three months. The winger played 24 minutes in the 2-1 win over Fulham, in which he scored the winner, before playing 45 minutes in the 1-1 draw against Everton that preceded the Real match.
Rice, meanwhile, has been a near ever-present for Arsenal this season, appearing in 43 matches across all competitions. He was outstanding against Real, threatening to score on a few occasions before he curled in two stunning free-kicks – the first of his entire professional career.
“He’s been very determined because we have talked in the last few months,” Arteta said of his midfielder. “We haven’t scored a direct free kick since September 2021 – Burnley away, Martin Odegaard.
“So it’s been a long time, so to score two goals in 12 minutes of that magnitude of that quality from the same player, a player that has never scored a free kick before in his career, I mean, what are the odds?
“But he’s done it tonight and I’m a big believer. I think the crowd played something with the energy that they put in and it helped us massively to win the game.”
Arsenal were without Gabriel Jesus (knee), Kai Havertz (thigh), Gabriel Magalhaes (hamstring), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Riccardo Calafiori (knee) for the first leg.
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