Following a historic 5-1 aggregate triumph over defending champions Real Madrid, Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has declared that the London club’s goal is nothing short of winning the UEFA Champions League.
Rice earned yet another Man of the Match award after a commanding performance helped the Gunners secure a 2-1 victory at the Santiago Bernabéu, with goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli sealing the result.
This marks the first time in 16 years that Arsenal have reached the semifinals of Europe’s elite club competition. Their only prior final appearance came in 2006.
In the upcoming semifinal, Arsenal will face French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), who advanced after defeating Aston Villa. The Gunners have already beaten PSG once this season, winning 2-0 on matchday two of the group stage.
Reacting to the result and his latest Man of the Match honour, Rice emphasized Arsenal’s ambitions and their hunger to go all the way.
“Back-to-back, and look, I think it’s just such a special night for this club, a historic 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,” Rice said.
The England international also revealed that Arsenal were mentally prepared for the challenge at the Bernabéu, despite Real Madrid’s reputation for dramatic comebacks.
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, and not just win the game. We knew we were going to suffer, but we knew we were going to win, and yeah, in our minds, we’ve done it in real life. What a night for the club.
Looking ahead, Rice acknowledged the difficulty of their next challenge, despite their earlier win over PSG.
“The semi-finals are massive for us. We want to take tonight in because we want to take it one step at a time. It’s PSG next, who are an amazing team,” Rice said.
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