Manchester City and England star Jack Grealish has hailed Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice for his performance in the Gunners’ 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final second-leg.
After scoring two brilliant free-kicks in the first-leg last week, Rice picked up where he left off with another sensational individual performance in Spain. The England international was named the game’s official Player of the Match for the second game in a row after marshalling Mikel Arteta’s midfield.
The north Londoners recorded another famous win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night. After seeing his penalty saved by Thibaut Courtous in the first-half, Bukayo Saka continued his fine form since returning from injury with a lobbed effort past the Madrid goalkeeper.
Vinicius Junior equalised on the night immediately after following a mistake from William Saliba before Gabriel Martinelli raced away from Fran Garcia to seal the victory in injury-time.
After the game, Rice and Myles Lewis-Skelly spoke to TNT Sports. “It’s such a special night for this club,” Rice said. “It’s a historical night for this club. We have an objective in this competition, we want to play the best teams and we want to win this competition.
(Image: UEFA via Getty Images)
“There was a lot of talk coming here, about them coming back because they’ve done it so many times before. But we had so much belief and confidence from that first-leg that we had enough to come here and win the game.”
Grealish, who was knocked out of the competition by Madrid with City earlier this season, took to social media to send his sign of approval to his England teammate.
Taking a picture of his television with Rice talking to TNT Sports, Grealish wrote: “What a player man *clapping hands emoji*.”
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- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
