Arsenal: How dazzling Declan Rice became the complete midfielder to run Real Madrid show | OneFootball

England star has joined Europe’s elite under Mikel Arteta - with much more to come after Bernabeu brilliance

For the second week running, Declan Rice was man of the match as he produced a stunning performance to once again down Los Blancos.

The Arsenal fans famously sing how they got him half price and these two games against Real Madrid leave you wondering if perhaps West Ham should have demanded more than the £105million they got for Rice.

David Moyes, their boss at the time, certainly thinks so and earlier this month he joked how he tells Arsenal fans they still owe him £50m.

“l used to get criticised when I said that he should be £150million,” said Moyes. “Sometimes you want to take credit, but Mikel [Arteta] has done a great job with him.”

Moyes is right, Arteta has done a brilliant job in developing Rice into the complete midfielder. The quarter-final tie with Real Madrid underlined that as the England star showed both sides to his game.

In the first leg, Rice scored two stunning free-kicks. On Wednesday night, he produced an all-action display that saw him out perform his team-mates in basically every metric.

Set-piece specialist: Rice scored two stunning free-kicks in the quarter-final first leg at the Emirates

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Rice ranked first among Arsenal players for chances created, interceptions, passes, tackles and touches in the Gunners’ 2-1 win over Real Madrid.

“He was decisive today in a different way, I think it was immense,” said Arteta. “His presence, the power that he showed, how composed he was, with or without the ball, I think he led the team in many moments and turned the game in our favour.

The fact that Rice delivered such a performance against Real Madrid, and Jude Bellingham in particular, strengthens the argument that he is one of, if not the, best midfielder in Europe right now.

His shift from playing at the base of midfield to a No8 role has brought a new dimension to his game and so has the decision for him to be on set-pieces.

Rice has scored seven goals and contributed nine assists so far this season. It matches his tally from last year - which was his best-ever campaign in terms of attacking output - and he will surely add more.

The 26-year-old is hitting form at just the right time after a difficult start to the campaign. Rice looked noticeably fatigued after a gruelling Euros in which he played more minutes and covered more ground than any other player at the tournament.

Rice is firing right when Arsenal need him at the business end of the season

A red card against Brighton in the opening month of the season was yet another setback and then in November and December has was troubled by a foot issue. Rice’s minutes had to be managed and his influence on this Arsenal side dwindled.

Those issues are a thing of the past now, though, and Rice is firing right when Arsenal need him at the business end of the season.

The biggest compliment you could pay him after Wednesday was that he would not look out of place in a Real Madrid shirt, such is the quality he has and the aura around him.

Not that Rice is thinking about anything like that. After inspiring the Gunners to a historic win, he spoke about how bright the future is under Arteta and his excitement at what is to come.

“I sensed it before I signed for the club that we were on an upward trajectory,” he said. “I felt it in the players we’ve got and the direction we want to go in.

“In this competition, we’ve done amazingly well and this club’s going to do special things over the next few years. We all fully believe it and we have full trust in this manager; he’s unbelievable.”