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As Arsenal dominated Real Madrid, Declan Rice delivered the best moment of his career with two stunning free-kick goals en route to a 3-0 victory in the Champions League quarterfinal first leg over Los Blancos. The job is far from done, needing to still make it through the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, but with a three goal advantage, Arsenal will feel good about their chances in the clash.

It's hard not to feel good after Rice turned in one of the best all-around performances seen in an Arsenal shirt with his brace while also being involved in a strong defensive performance to keep Real Madrid from scoring. The midfielder acknowledged that he even should've scored more during the match, as Thibaut Courtois made excellent saves to keep Rice from scoring, but he still got the job done. 

"I probably should've had two [goals] in the first half. I didn't run, I could've had a tap-in and then the header. Obviously, I scored the two goals. I just went out there fearless, and I was ready to prove a point. And yeah, we did that," Rice said.

Following the clash, Rice reflected on his free kick goals with Arsenal legend and CBS Sports talent Thierry Henry, and the player opened up about how they may not have happened if he had done what he was asked to do by Arsenal's set piece coach on the play.

Analyzing Rice's first free kick

For the first free kick, Real Madrid set up a wall with only four people, and Rice noticed a chance to hit one out wide to the ride and curl it back in, and he wouldn't miss. He said the process between him and Bukayo Saka was a fascinating one to go through. 

"Before this all was happening, our set piece coach, we was planning to cross the ball to that post," Rice said. "He wanted us to reverse cross it to the back post and I stood with Bukayo and I said, 'It doesn't feel right to cross the ball here. And I looked at the wall, then I looked at Courtois, and I see that space for the right foot around the outside of the wall, and Bukayo said, 'If you feel it, take it,' and I said, 'You know what, I'm going for it.' And if you don't take the risk, you don't score. As soon as it left my foot, I knew it had a chance, and it's one of them historic moments."

The ability to create his own solution is one of the things that makes Rice such a great soccer player. His arrival at Arsenal in 2023 from West Ham United was a transformative moment for the club, and he now comes up with a big moment as the Gunners downed Real Madrid to move one step closer to the semis.

Twice as nice

For the second free kick, Madid did adjust the wall, but Rice wouldn't let that stop him from delivering a picture-perfect strike to double Arsenal's lead. It's the first time a player has scored two free-kick goals in a Champions League game since Hakim Ziyech in 2023 and could bring a new primary free-kick taker to Arsenal.

"I think this part of my game gets questioned in terms of my ability with ball striking and scoring goals. I know I can produce these kinds of moments, it's just about doing it more and more," Rice said. "As soon as it left my foot, I just knew and had the confidence after the first one.

"When I practice these free kicks, quite a lot what I tend to notice is that when I make the contact and you look out quick, it's not the strike that I want, but when I look down at the ball and just focus on the ball and knowing the spot that I want to put it, I tend to have more consistency with it."

Practice makes perfect, and even if Tuesday's match was a flash in the pan for Rice on free kicks, it'll still be a monumental occasion if it puts Arsenal into the UCL semifinals.