I’m penning this column as I fly again to London from Madrid and I’m actually 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 house 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 pretty much as good a 180 minute efficiency as you will notice from a participant on the most important stage.
Clearly he received loads of reward after his free-kicks within the first leg, and rightly so, however the efficiency he produced on the Bernabeu was pretty much 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 phases from Arsenal’s £105 million man.
It didn’t matter who he was up in opposition to, no-one may get close to him.
He was simply in every single place, from breaking apart Madrid assaults at one finish to driving Arsenal ahead on the different.
You possibly can’t actually single one factor out in relation to his efficiency and that’s what makes it so particular. It simply encapsulated all the pieces that you simply want or need from a midfielder.
The proper all spherical show.
Jude Bellingham couldn’t deal with Declan Rice – and it confirmed
You may see how pissed off Jude Bellingham was by all of it. Like all the very best gamers, Bellingham clearly has an ego, you possibly can see that by the way in which he performs and to be honest it’s that vanity that sees him stand out from most different gamers. He feeds off it.
However his ego was clearly bruised by the way in which 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 tricky begin to the season for Rice. Like most gamers who had been on the Euros and gone deep into the competitors he struggled to essentially 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 stay as much as their value tags. You simply have to have 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 received him half value” is the tune that the Arsenal followers sing. It’s very laborious to argue in opposition to that.
