Champions League-winning midfielder Wesley Sneijder has bucked the trend with his verdict on Declan Rice’s two ‘extremely easy’ free-kick goals against Real Madrid. Arsenal star Rice scored two goals in 12 minutes as the Gunners took a 3-0 stronghold in their Champions League quarter-final tie.
The England midfielder had never scored a direct free-kick before beating Thibaut Courtois twice. Rice, 26, whipped his first effort around the wall, catching Courtois out to break the deadlock in the 58th minute and raise the roof at the Emirates.
Shortly after, Bukayo Saka won another free-kick for Rice to take – this time from the other side – and he rocketed his strike into the top right-hand corner. Mikel Merino scored Arsenal’s third goal to give Madrid, who ended the game with 10 men, a mountain to climb in next week’s second leg.
But the night belonged to Rice, who was showered with praise for his free-kicks and all-round performance. Sneijder, though, has gone against the grain, claiming that his goals were ‘extremely easy’.
“I don’t think the free-kick(s) were that impressive,” Sneijder, who won the Champions League with Inter Milan in 2010, said on Dutch TV channel Ziggo Sport.
“This may sound strange, but it’s extremely easy to curve a ball like that as long as you know how to take a shot, and I know all about this. The wall was at fault here. The same for the second free kick, you saw Courtois moving to his right just before Rice took it, a mistake by the goalkeeper.”
His former team-mate for the Netherlands and ex-Arsenal defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst agreed. “I think Wesley is right,” Van Bronckhorst said of Rice’s first free-kick.
“You can see that the wall is too far to the left, which makes it easy for Rice to shoot past.”
Speaking to Movistar post-match, Courtois admitted that he could’ve done better with Rice’s first free-kick, although he took aim at David Alaba and Jude Bellingham for committing ‘two unnecessary’ fouls’ which led to both goals. “Declan Rice scored two great goals,” the Belgian goalkeeper acknowledged.
“They’re two unnecessary fouls. Maybe they shouldn’t be committed. They (Arsenal) press well. They play between the lines. In the first half, we knew how to counter-attack. We lost control. There was no calm with the ball. I wouldn’t say it was panic, but it was nervousness.
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“I thought I had set up the wall well. I even added one more man. Maybe I could have added another. But I didn’t expect so much curve. If we score two quick goals at the Bernabeu, the third can come by itself. We have to learn. We can’t allow more mistakes. Every detail counts.”
Rice won’t care for their opinions, as the former West Ham soaked up a surreal night. “I don’t know whether it will ever sink in,” Rice told Amazon Prime. “I’ve gone back to my phone then and it’s gone crazy.
“To score my first free-kick in a game is a special one. And then when I got the second one… I just had the confidence. I’m speechless really. I don’t think it’s going to hit me, what I’ve done tonight. It’s a historic night.”
The second leg takes place at the Bernabeu next Wednesday.
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