Declan Rice says that Arsenal needs more “magical moments” if they don't want their Champions League dream to die against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Arsenal goes to the Parc des Princes 1-0 after the semi-final first stage in North London last week, and the chances are stacked against those who reach the final for the second time, after they have lost in Barcelona in the 2006 show piece, also in Paris.
Rice has already yielded two magical moments that will become part of Arsenal Folklore during his run to the last four of the Champions League and scored two stunning free kicks in the 3-0 quarter-final first legs victory at Real Madrid.
They won that draw 5-1 to aggregated, but the pressure ratchet on Wednesday another notch, and Rice says that, or one of his teammates, he will have to call another unforgettable moment if Mikel Arteta's side prevails and has to reach the final in Munich.
“I think the manager, he calls them magical moments. He always talks about them, someone who delivers a magical moment,” Rice told reporters on the eve of the game.
“In that match against Madrid I was of course able to produce two free kicks that were incredible.
“But for the semi -final itself it might be someone who can get that magical moment. Hopefully I will be again, but you need a moment of magic to win a game.
“Hopefully we can deliver something special.”
Ready for tomorrow.
Paris pic.twitter.com/faaiahi582
– Arsenal (@ARSENAL) May 6, 2025
Arsenal was astonished after four minutes at home when Ousmane Dembele struck PSG, who were inviolable for almost 25 minutes.
At 3.15 pm it was the earliest Arsenal admitted in the Champions League since the goal of Edinson Cavani for the same side in September 2016 (42 seconds), and the earliest they admitted in the knockout phase of the competition.
But the cheerful rice prefers to remember the rest of that game, in which Arsenal hit strongly and was denied several times by PSG -keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, while she had also excluded a goal from Mikel Merino for abroad.
“I think the first 15 minutes, I think the early goal probably shocked us a bit, and it probably took us 15 or 20 minutes to get a foothold in the game,” Rice said.
“But when we started to keep the ball, we started creating some opportunities. Of course there was little Blip, probably 10 minutes to go, they hit the bar and laid a wide, but we also had a number of enormous opportunities.
“But we are really positive and full of faith we can come here and do something special.”
Only two teams have once reached the final of the Champions League that lost the first stage of their semi-final draw at home, with Ajax Panathinaikos conquering in 1995-96 and Tottenham does the same against Ajax in 2018-19.
Arsenal has won each of their last four in the Champions League – The Gunners have never won five in a row on the road across all European competitions.
They only get a 29.9% chance of winning on Wednesday according to the OPTA Supercomputer, while PSG's chances of winning are 45.3%.
Arsenal will be stimulated by the availability of fit-again immediately Riccardo Calafiori, while the midfield general Thomas Partey is also back, which was suspended last week.
“[Partey] Be total calm. Playing with Thomas, I realized that this is one of the best things about him, “said Rice.
“He doesn't always get the recognition he deserves, but he certainly plays with him, he suggests being a better player.
“We need a great achievement from him and myself, but also the full 11, because it will be the biggest night in the history of the club when we reach the final.”
Arteta, who is desperate to deliver another trophy with just one lonely FA cup since he was in charge of 2019, said that his team has enormous enthusiasm and energy for the task that needs to be performed.
“We are a victory removed from the fact that we are in the final, let's talk it [on Wednesday]”said the Spaniard.
“Winning trophies will be in the right place at the right time.
“Liverpool has won the title with fewer points than we had in the past two seasons. With those points in the past two seasons we have two leading competitions.
“So you have to be in the right place at the right time. Hopefully we will be here at the right time in Paris to get into the final.”