Declan Rice reveals he defied Arsenal orders over free-kick

Declan Rice revealed that he defied Arsenal's set-piece coach Nicolas Jover when opting to shoot from the first of his two stunning free-kicks against Real Madrid.

After a well-balanced, goalless first half in the pair's Champions League quarter-final first leg, Bukayo Saka won a free-kick almost 30 yards from goal shortly before the hour mark. Rice bent a sumptuous effort around Madrid's grey shirts to break the deadlock with the first direct free-kick of his professional career.

Yet, had Jover gotten his way, Rice's piece of history would never have happened.

"He [Jover] is telling me to cross," Rice told Amazon Prime after the 3-0 victory. "It didn't make sense. I'm happy I took it. Bukayo said: 'If you feel it, go for it.' I looked at the wall and the keeper and thought: 'I can bend this around the outside.'

"It's been in the locker, but I've hit the wall too many times or it's gone over the bar. Originally we were going to cross it and I've just seen the wall and goalkeeper's position. So I thought just go for it."

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois took "responsibility" for Rice's first free kick. "On the first foul, I thought I had set up a good wall," the towering shot-stopper told Movistar Plus+. "I always put an extra man on the ball, so that curve doesn't go through, but Declan Rice shot very well."

Rice had only been allowed to take 12 free-kicks across the first 338 games of his career. After converting his 13th attempt, the England international arguably produced an even more spectacular effort with his 14th attempt 12 minutes later. From the opposite side of the pitch, Rice battered a venomous effort towards the top corner which Courtois was guarding, yet the 6'6 Belgian was left with nothing more than fistfuls of air.

"The second one, it looks far out," Rice wistfully recalled. "At first I was going to go over the wall but I practise going to the keeper's side a lot and I just went with it. After the first I just had the confidence."

Courtois could take nothing away from Rice for his second effort. "He couldn't have shot better," the Belgian shrugged.

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