Declan Rice, a key figure for Arsenal, has stated that his team will need “magical moments” to reach the Champions League final, a feat the club hasn’t achieved in 19 years.
The Gunners face Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital this Wednesday, looking to overcome the 1-0 deficit from the first leg. Ousmane Dembélé’s goal in the fourth minute of the first match gave the Parisian team the advantage.
Only two teams in Champions League history, Ajax in the 1995-96 season and Tottenham in 2018-19, have lost the first leg of a semi-final at home and managed to reach the final.
Rice played a fundamental role in Arsenal’s qualification to this stage of the tournament, for the first time since 2009, thanks to his two impressive free kicks that contributed to a 5-1 aggregate victory over Real Madrid in the quarterfinals.
I think the coach calls them magic moments. He always talks about having someone deliver a magic moment. I hope it’s me again, but it takes a moment of magic to win a game, and as a team, we need it.
Declan Rice
The midfielder analyzed the team’s performance in the first leg, highlighting PSG’s intelligence in moving between the lines. “But once we figured out how we could beat them, we created opportunities,” Rice added. “Tomorrow night, we need to do the same. We need to have courage and go out on the biggest stage and show that we are ready to play at this level.”
Regarding the statements by Wayne Rooney, former Manchester United striker, about a supposed “psychological fear” of Arsenal to win titles, Rice recalled the 2-0 victory over PSG in the group stage in October.
“It was the same team, apart from Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia. Everyone else started and we beat them. So there’s no fear,” Rice stated. “We fully believed we could beat them. Obviously, it wasn’t meant to be, but we’ve seen enough and we know enough as a team that tomorrow night we can do something really good and we definitely believe we belong at this level.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta urged his team to draw inspiration from the victory in Madrid, where they beat Real 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu.
We did it in a very convincing way against very difficult opponents. We are one victory away from being in the Champions League final. In the most beautiful city in the world, against a great opponent, there is nothing better than that.
Mikel Arteta
