Rice’s stunning free kick double fires Arsenal to 3-0 win over Real Madrid

LONDON — Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice’s two fantastic free kicks and a striker’s finish from Mikel Merino secured a 3-0 victory over shocked holders Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal at The Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

The hosts had the better of the first half as Real began slowly, with Eduardo Camavinga almost conceding a calamitous own goal when he blocked Antonio Rudiger’s clearance before Thomas Partey shot straight at goalkeeper Thibault Courtois.

Real, bidding for a record-extending 16^th title in the competition, grew into the contest and threatened on the break, though their few opportunities came from Arsenal errors and the visitors looked disjointed throughout the contest.

Courtois was by far the busier keeper and produced a stunning double save, the first from a powerful Rice header, on the stroke of halftime.

There was no stopping Rice’s opener, though, a fierce curling shot around the wall and beyond Courtois in the 58^th minute for his first senior goal from a direct free kick.

“It’s been in the locker, but I’ve hit the wall too many times or it’s gone over the bar. Originally I was going to cross it and then I’ve just have seen the wall with the goalkeeper’s position. I thought… just go for it,” Rice said.

Arsenal could have been 2-0 up shortly after but for more heroics from Courtois, who produced a diving stop from Gabriel Martinelli followed by another from makeshift striker Merino in between David Alaba’s goal-line block.

Rice’s second free kick was even better than the first, curled straight into the top corner in the 70^th minute, to leave the 15-time European champions looking stunned.

Merino then coolly fired Myles Lewis-Skelly’s pull-back into the bottom corner 15 minutes from time, following a pass from substitute Leandro Trossard, to give Arsenal a sizeable lead to take to Madrid next week.

The winners of the tie will face either Aston Villa or Paris St Germain, who meet on Wednesday, in the semifinals.

“We’ve had a brilliant game, we had a lot of motivation, that’s why we won,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “We have a game next week in the Bernabeu, we have to demonstrate we can do that again next week.”

Real will have to try and overhaul Arsenal’s lead without Camavinga, who was shown a second yellow card in the closing seconds for kicking the ball away.

The visitors did have some half-chances, most notably through Kylian Mbappe who scuffed his shot at the end of a fast break with the score at 0-0 in the first half.

But Real was unconvincing in attack and have now conceded 11 goals in their last four games in all competitions, while Arsenal has not lost a European tie when scoring three goals in the first leg.

Unused substitute Lucas Vazquez conceded Real were nowhere near their best but nonetheless, given his side’s European pedigree, warned Arsenal his team was far from finished.

“The tie is complicated, but if there’s one team in the world that can turn it around, it’s us, in our stadium and with our fans,” he told Movistar Plus.

Real will hope to take heart from the 1975-76 European Cup when they lost 4-1 away to Derby County in the first leg of the second round but won the return 5-1 at home. — Reuters