Declan Rice sends immediate warning to PSG after Arsenal masterclass in Real Madrid win

Declan Rice played a key role as Arsenal overpowered Real Madrid to book their place in the Champions League semi-finals, where French champions PSG are waiting

Declan Rice has warned PSG they hold no fears for Arsenal in their Champions League semi-final – with the Gunners buoyed after seeing what Aston Villa did to the French champions in their quarter-final.

Rice played a key role as Mikel Arteta’s side swept aside Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. He was named man of the match in both legs, scoring twice in the first before delivering a midfield masterclass in the reverse fixture on Wednesday night.

It is the first time for 16 years that Arsenal have reached the final four of the Champions League. The last time they managed the feat was in the 2008/2009 season, where they lost to Manchester United. By contrast, PSG have now reached the semi-finals four times in the last six seasons. They did have to survive a comeback against Villa on Tuesday night though, having been 5-2 up at half-time of the second leg,

The tie ultimately ended 5-4 on aggregate after a nervy second-half for Luis Enrique’s side. And Rice has now warned PSG that Arsenal were watching that game with delight.

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“Top team, played them once already. We feel like they’re a different team to back then. We’ve seen what they can do. But also we’ve seen what Villa done to them last night, causing them lots of problems,” he told TNT Sports.

“Look we’ll be working hard. We now have to go to Ipswich on Sunday which is going to be a tough game because we want to keep going and keep winning matches in the Prem. And also like you said, focus on this competition.”

Rice insisted that Arsenal’s goal is now to lift the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. He admitted that their setbacks in the Premier League have left them hungry for success.

“It’s an historic night for this club. We have an objective in this competition – we want to play the best teams and win this competition. There was a lot of talk about them coming back because they’ve done it so many times before,” he added.

“But we had a belief and confidence that we’d win the game. We had it in our mind, and we did it in real life. What a night for the club. Before I came to the club I sensed we were on an upward trajectory.

“It’s been tough in the Premier League – we lost out by a point last year and this year it’s slipped away for us – but in this competition we’ve done amazingly well.

“We have full trust in this manager; he’s unbelievable. The semi-finals is massive for us. We just want to take tonight in, then it’s PSG who are an amazing team.”

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