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By MATT BARLOW Published: 02: 00 AEST, 10 April 2025 | Updated: 02: 00 AEST, 10 April 2025 6 View comments When Gareth Bale scored that hat-trick at the San Siro, all the lingering doubts vanished into the Italian night and one of the most destructive attacking forces in British football was launched. Confidence coursed through Bale, and he did not take another backwards glance. Having rattled the aristocrats of Inter Milan on the Champions League stage once, he did it again a fortnight later. Before we knew it, he was in another orbit. Declan Rice is a different type of footballer. One with a different personality and profile. He is five years older than Bale was against Inter. There are no questions about his elite status. Arsenal, after all, spent £105million for him, and yet those two sensational free-kick goals to topple Real Madrid on Tuesday offered a rare glimpse into the true depth of his technical brilliance. 'It’s in my locker, ' smiled 26-year-old Rice when Gabriel Clarke on Amazon Prime asked him the very question a nation stunned on their sofas wanted to know: just where on earth had he been hiding that? Those two sensational free-kick goals to topple Real Madrid on Tuesday offered a rare glimpse into the true depth of Declan Rice's technical brilliance Little wonder self-belief was soaring when the second one came along and the execution by Rice was even better His abilities to win the ball cleanly were vital. He patrolled huge areas, and won tackles while on his feet which enabled him to spring the team quickly with a forward pass Rice's brace set up a famous night for Arsenal as they beat Real Madrid 3-0 in the Champions League quarter-final first leg When Rice broke into the West Ham team, he looked to many, including some seasoned scouts, like the type of player who would settle eventually into a role as a ball-playing centre half. He was imposing, with strong defensive instinct and awareness. He could read the game and had both the strength to compete physically and the speed across the ground to handle the runners. Equally, he was composed in possession and moved well with the ball, and the modern game was demanding mobile centre halves who could step out into midfield, like Marquinhos did for Thomas Tuchel at Paris Saint-Germain. Others saw something else. Arsenal scouted him extensively over a period of 18 months before swooping in the summer of 2023. They went beyond the norm, as you would expect before such an investment in something as unpredictable as a human being. They researched his character and, although their minds were already made up, they were impressed to see him at the Emirates Stadium supporting West Ham’s Under 18s in the FA Youth Cup final against Arsenal, in April 2023. He was the only first-team player to do so. The more they studied Rice though, the more they recognised his creative qualities and were convinced he would be more effective further up the pitch, despite seldom scoring goals. Perhaps it had something to do with the intuition of boss Mikel Arteta and Edu, then sporting director and the key driving force behind the transfer, both of whom played in midfield for talented teams and knew what mattered. Rice’s strengths, they started to appreciate, were on the ball, as well as off it. He had an ability to disturb opponents and cause them damage, a feeling reinforced once they had him inside the club and realised his technical ability. Arsenal scouted Rice extensively over a period of 18 months before swooping in summer 2023 Rice’s strengths were on the ball, as well as off it. He had an ability to disturb opponents and cause them damage, a feeling reinforced when they got him and realised his technical ability In old parlance he could be one of those all-action warriors from the Bryan Robson mould David Moyes always claimed £105m to be a bargain, and continues to do so. It seemed at the time like the words of a manager aggrieved to be losing his captain and an irreplaceable figure in his team. Moyes will have been acutely aware of the high ceiling, even if he mostly came to use Rice as a dynamic ball-winning midfielder at West Ham in a team designed to counter attack. His abilities to win the ball cleanly were vital. He patrolled huge areas, and won tackles while on his feet which enabled him to spring the team quickly with a forward pass. There is also selflessness about Rice, reflected in his likeability when he speaks. When I interviewed him in December 2021, we spoke for an hour over Zoom before training, but he insisted on continuing the conversation later because it turned out there was more he wanted to get across, and it was about West Ham and what they were creating and what he thought they could achieve. In a team sport, Rice understands the importance of fulfilling his role. The thing is he has many talents. In old parlance he could be one of those all-action warriors from the Bryan Robson mould. Maybe he will mature into a modern version of the original Captain Marvel. Rice certainly has leadership qualities and rarely misses a game. Of England’s Premier League players, he has played more minutes than anyone since last year’s Euros. There is also selflessness about Rice, reflected in his likeability when he is interviewed His West Ham boss David Moyes always claimed £105m to be a bargain, and continues to do so Rice, pictured with Mark Noble, certainly has leadership qualities and rarely misses a game And, with Thomas Partey back to anchor the midfield again after injuries last season, Arsenal have pushed Rice further up the pitch. As a result, there have been fewer touches and fewer passes than last season, but Arteta has challenged him to impose his strengths in the attacking third where there is less time to stroke passes about. It is a work in progress. Rice, in those disarmingly honest post-match interviews on Tuesday, showed the humility to promote the mistakes he thought he had made on his greatest night. He thought he should have done better with a header saved by Thibaut Courtois in the first half and was mad at himself for checking his run and not ending up in the right place to tap in a superb cross by Bukayo Saka. He wondered live on air if his feet were quick enough in the crowded penalty areas. Rice’s full range of ability has become clearer to the rest of us, however, since he was entrusted with taking more set-pieces rather than trying to get on the end of them. He took over from Gabriel Martinelli on right-footed inswinging corners after Arsenal’s midwinter training break in Dubai last season, and has taken an even greater share of them this season with Saka injured. Only Andreas Pereira of Fulham has taken more corners in the Premier League this season than Rice’s 88, and since he joined Arsenal, he has registered five assists from them. The quality has been exceptional, and the hours Arsenal devote in practice will only have improved his mastery of the dead ball. All of which culminated at the Emirates on Tuesday, when Saka whispered encouragement to defy the pitchside instructions of set-piece guru Nicolas Jover, who wanted him to clip the first free-kick into the penalty box on a reverse angle for others to attack. Rice’s full range of ability has become clearer to the rest of us, however, since he was entrusted with taking more set-pieces rather than trying to get on the end of them He thought he should have done better with a header saved by Thibaut Courtois in the first half Rice produced goals of unquestionable excellence, against the best, and on the biggest stage Rice trusted his instincts and went for goal, generating such swerve to beat the wall it was impossible not to think of Roberto Carlos - the former Brazil and Real Madrid full back who just happened to be at the game - and that free-kick he scored against France in 1997, when a ball boy set off to move in the opposite direction to fetch the ball before it curled back inside the posts. Little wonder self-belief was soaring when the second one came along and the execution by Rice was even better. This time, rather than take on the wall, he took on Courtois on the goalkeeper’s side. Still Real’s ‘keeper was nowhere near the ball as it traced an arc with glorious precision into the top corner. Two goals of unquestionable excellence to shake Europe. Against the best, on the biggest stage. Declan, we might have lift off.

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