Rice, 26, had played a key role in the first leg, netting two stunning free-kicks that gave Arsenal a commanding lead heading into the return leg in Madrid. ..Continue Reading
In the second leg, Rice delivered another composed performance, holding his own against Real Madrid’s formidable midfield trio of Aurélien Tchouaméni, Fede Valverde, and Bellingham.
Although Rice and Bellingham are international teammates with England, there was little sign of camaraderie between them during the match at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Clips capturing several fiery exchanges between the two were shared online the following day, prompting plenty of reaction and debate from fans on social media.
One said: “Bellingham was rattled and pained. He wanted to provoke Rice and I love how the latter handled the situation and ignored him.”
Another added: “Bellingham doing everything he can to get Rice a yellow that would be pointless tonight but rule him out of a potential semi first leg.”
While a third commented: “Bellingham trying to bait Rice into a yellow so he’d miss a semi final is peak.”
As a fourth explained: “Bellingham trying to mind control Rice into a yellow.”
Naturally, had Declan Rice been shown a yellow card, he would’ve been suspended for the first leg of Arsenal’s semi-final showdown with PSG—and he came close to picking one up.
In the first half, referee Francois Letexier initially booked Rice after awarding Real Madrid a penalty for what was deemed a foul on Kylian Mbappe.
But after a VAR review and a trip to the pitch-side monitor, Letexier reversed his decision, cancelling both the penalty and the caution.
Arsenal went on to secure a 2-1 win on the night, courtesy of second-half goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
“We want to play the best teams, and we want to win this competition,” Rice said when speaking to TNT Sports after the game.
“There was a lot of talk coming here about them coming back, because they have 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. We knew we were going to suffer. But we knew we were going to win. We did it in my mind, and then we did it in real life. What a night for the club.”
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