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Arsenal’s Declan Rice once named the former Real Madrid player whose shirt he always wore growing up
Declan Rice was Arsenal’s hero against Real Madrid as he scored a pair of free-kicks for the ages in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final.
The Englishman earned rave reviews for his outstanding display, with Alan Shearer lauding Rice’s showing against Real Madrid as a whole as he well and truly grabbed the headlines.
The Spanish media lauded Rice’s masterclass against Real Madrid as well as his heroics for Arsenal were such that any and everyone associated with the beautiful game could not help but sing his praises.
Ahead of the second leg, the former West Ham United midfielder will be determined to produce yet another memorable display to confirm the Gunners’ place in the semi-finals of the competition.
While Declan Rice will have his game-face on as Arsenal line up against Real Madrid, he admitted back in 2022 that he was a huge fan of David Beckham during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Declan Rice said he always wore David Beckham’s Real Madrid shirt
In an interview with GOAL’s show ‘Box 2 Box’, Rice named Beckham’s memorable Real Madrid shirt during the 2003/2004 season as his “favourite” in history before he had signed for Arsenal, as he recalled: “I remember going on holiday, being with my brothers, being with my family and literally, non-stop, all holiday wearing this shirt. I think it’s iconic, obviously Becks on the back. Yeah, proper good memories of me in this as a kid. Probably my favourite kit of all time as well.”
“So many good players, obviously Becks was the icon so to have him on the back and wear this shirt was like a dream as a kid.”
Now-Arsenal midfielder Rice was asked whether David Beckham was the best player in that Real Madrid team at the time, considering the team featured legends such as Ronaldo Nazario, Raul and Luis Figo.
The 27-year-old’s pick as the standout player was Ronaldo, as he said nearly three years ago: “What a question. Wouldn’t say he was the best player in this team, obviously, I’m going to have go with R9. I was only young then so you know, for me, just looking at these players, it was more, you’d see them on YouTube, you’d see the clips they do and the key moments they have in games, he was a massive part of that.”
“Some of the assists he got for all them players was obviously top. I’d put Becks up there but R9 was probably my favourite. Unbelievable. But yeah, what a shirt, I wish it fit!”
The Arsenal star matched a rare David Beckham feat vs Real Madrid
Rice has been compared to Steven Gerrard and David Beckham as he will be hoping to replicate both English legend against Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final.
Notably, in the first leg, Rice managed to become the only second English player to score a free-kick against Real Madrid in a Champions League after Beckham.
David Beckham’s free-kick against Los Merengues came in 2003 when he came off the bench to score a beauty of a strike in a 4-3 win for Manchester United in the second leg of the quarter-finals.
But the disappointment for the retired wideman was that Real Madrid still went through to the semi-finals after winning 6-5 on aggregate.
Rice will be hoping that Real Madrid do not spring a surprise against Arsenal after making memories of a lifetime at the Emirates Stadium earlier this week.