Declan Rice puts Jude Bellingham in his place in battle of England’s finest midfielders

ARSENAL 3-0 REAL MADRID: Declan Rice’s two superb free-kicks lit the blue touch paper on an astonishing night at the Emirates Stadium, as Arsenal are left touching the semi-finals

Birds of a feather flock together, and on Real Madrid’s first visit to the Emirates the plumages on parade in midfield were breathtaking. Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice are on the same side when England’s Three Lions are embroidered on their shirts, but in a giddy atmosphere their rivalry was more intense than a starlings’ murmuration.

Bellingham almost demolished a VAR pitchside monitor with a an angry swish of his left foot after Real’s last-gasp home defeat by Valencia at the weekend. He had to be hooked by new England coach Thomas Tuchel before he could get himself sent off against Latvia at Wembley last month, so his circuits are still governed by a short fuse.

But as Our Jude drifted in off the left flank, into territory patrolled diligently by Rice, he was given less change than a fruit machine. And on an unforgettable night in north London, there was no mistaking who came out on top.

In the sporadic frenzy of an absorbing contest, Rice had already come closest in the first half, arriving late in the box only for his header to be parried away by there sprawling Thibaut Courtois.

Then the £105 million man whipped his free-kick around a poorly-aligned wall and the roof nearly came off English football’s most celebrated library. Have some of that, Jude. Just for good measure, and to prove lightning does strike twice, Rice repeated the trick. Same whip, same distance, same top corner. Unbelievable.

Arsenal’s title challenge may have faltered on their obsession with set piece efficiency, but Rice’s pair of party pieces put his England colleague – and others – in the shade. Sitting deep in Real’s midfield – so deep he would have been inconspicuous if it wasn’t for his fluorescent captain’s armband – was Luka Modric, the man Father Time forgot.

Modric, who used to grace Lilywhite heartlands just up the Seven Sisters Road, turns 40 in September, and the twinkle in his happy feet may finally be on the wane.

But during Arsenal’s pulses of pressure, there was the Croatian maestro, dictating the tempo of Real’s response like an orchestra conductor ordering the big brass section into line.

But in the Ashburton Grove aviary, perhaps the most striking plumage of all, the prettiest flamingo amid the frenzy, was Gunners captain Martin Odegaard – the man Real decided was surplus to requirements.

It was 10 years ago that a callow 16-year-old stepped off a flight from Oslo and was whisked straight to the Bernabeu to be unveiled as a baby Galactico in the arbitrary clothes he had thrown on at first light.

“I’m supposed to be this player that Real Madrid has beaten everyone to sign and I look like a random schoolkid they just pulled from the stadium tour,” he recalled years later, grimacing at the memory.

Real’s loss has been Arsenal’s gain. They should do this more often – it was an enjoyable watch.

Remarkably, in a competition where the last eight is invariably a pageant of the usual suspects, the 15-times European Cup winners had only ventured up the Holloway Road once before – in 2006, when Arsenal were still in residence at Highbury.

A tight tie was settled in the first leg by Thierry Henry’s nifty winner and David Beckham blinking first in his one-on-one with Jens Lehmann.

This one could yet be decided by fine margins, too. And whatever awaits them in the Spanish capital next week, Arsenal’s birds of a feather will never forget the night Rice put the cat among the pigeons by bending it like Beckham.

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