Following Tuesday night’s 3-0 victory against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal, former Sky Sports host Richard Keys blasted an Arsenal player.
Mikel Merino gave Mikel Arteta’s team a third goal after Declan Rice scored two spectacular free kicks, giving the Gunners the lead going into the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Jude Bellingham, a midfielder for Real Madrid, controlled his emotions after full time to compliment Arsenal’s performance alongside Arteta, 43.
“We need to go there and we’re going to have to step up again and prepare the game to win it,” Arteta stated.
As a team, we’ve taken another positive step. We must go to Bernabeu and repeat what we did tonight, but we are capable of doing it.”
Despite their strong performance, not everyone had the same opinion of the Premier League team, particularly Keys, who demanded that an Arsenal player be fired.
If he believes anything has to be said, the former Sky Sports and current beIN Sports broadcaster doesn’t hesitate to say it, and on Wednesday, he did just that.
“The Gunners had a fantastic night,” Keys posted on X. “You never know with Madrid, so I’m delighted they didn’t go overboard in the end. In addition, I would fire my set-piece coach rather than celebrate with him if we hadn’t scored a direct goal from an FK since September 21.
This happened after Arteta, 43, disclosed that Rice’s initial goal was the midfielder’s first goal from a free-kick in 338 appearances and the first goal the Gunners had scored since September 2021.
Arsenal’s set piece coach, Nicolas Jover, is frequently seen approaching the touchline as the Gunners prepare for dead ball scenarios.
Furthermore, despite Keys’ assertion, Arsenal has scored a far higher amount of goals from set pieces this season.
Rice, 26, even joked after the game that Jover was still “claiming” the goals.
Rice remarked, “He’s claiming for it but he’s told me to cross it,” after describing how Bukayo Saka urged him to fire rather than cross before he made his initial strike.
Arteta clarified, “He can claim it if he wants, it doesn’t matter,” “It’s incredible.”
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