Arsenal begin to believe as Rice makes it happen

LONDON - Arsenal manager Mikel Artetas mantra ahead of his sides Champions League quarter-final against 15-times winners Real Madrid was to make it happen and on Tuesday his players, roared on by a raucous north London crowd, did just that.

Artetas side have become the nearly men in recent seasons, twice pushing Manchester City all the way in Premier League title races only to fall agonisingly short and narrowly bowing out in the last eight of the Champions League last season.

This season they would need an unlikely Liverpool collapse to win the English title, but after a 3-0 hammering of Real Madrid in the first leg, European glory is beckoning.

There is still an awfully long way to go if Arsenal are to win the Champions League for the first time, not least protecting their advantage in the Santiago Bernabeu cauldron next week and reaching the semi-finals for the first time since 2009, but the events of Tuesday felt like a coming of age moment for Artetas team.

Declan Rice, whose sizeable midfield skillset did not necessarily include scoring wonder goals, struck two sublime freekicks past Thibaut Courtois in the space of 12 second-half minutes to give Arsenal a stranglehold on the game.

His opener, a curling masterpiece in the 58th minute, was his first career goal from a direct freekick and Arsenals first such goal in any competition since September 2021.

Rice, who conceded afterwards his original intention had been to cross the ball into the area, then topped that with another effort that left captain Martin Odegaard holding his head in his hands in disbelief.

According to data analysts Opta, the chance of Rice scoring from both freekicks was 0.23% -- so no wonder Arsenal fans are beginning to believe fate could be beckoning.

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