Declan's phenomenal pair of free kicks against Real Madrid in the Champions League Won Lof van Roy Keane, who often criticized the £ 105 million Arsenal midfielder
Roy Keane insists that he was not shocked by Declan Rice's amazing free kick double against Real Madrid – despite his earlier criticism of the midfielder. Rice put Arsenal on the rice seats in their quarterfinals of the Champions League with a few amazing set-piece strikes before Mikel Merino struck to bring the score to 3-0.
Although Rice is considered one of the best intermediaries of the Premier League, Keane has taken countless verbal swipes at the former West Ham star over the years. The Manchester United Great, however, has proven that he can also challenge a strange lump of praise, while rating the first leg win of the Gunners on the 15-way European champions, suggesting that he always had faith in him.
“Declan Rice has a great technique in terms of beating the ball,” he said on the stick to the football podcast, offered you by Sky Bet. “Those two goals against Real Madrid, I was not so shocked that he did it.
“He has that in his locker. The second goal was fantastic. If Rice can continue to get more goals, he can be at a completely different level, as some of the larger players are there. The goals wear it.”
Rice is stunned by the criticism of experts that he does not score enough. Asked by the athletics last year if he thought it was honest, he said: 'No, not real.
“Because Roy Keane, [Graeme] Souness, [Jamie] Redknapp, people talking about my goals core, if you looked at their goals, they don't score hundreds in their career.
“But they are remembered for what they did as players in midfield: Roy Keane Break Up Play, as a hard-tackling midfielder, won many titles for United. The same with soundess.
“So I don't know why it's about me, it's all about goals because it has never been my game. But since I scored, nobody has said anything!”
Keane has previously questioned the transfer costs of £ 105 million that the Gunners have paid for rice. Immediately after the move, the Irishman said: “They clearly paid way too much for him. He is worth no more than £ 100 million.”
He had already been to West Ham in the case of Rice and said: “For all the talk about him, a lot of good PR comes from West Ham … I think he should do much more.”
Keane also took a wipe during the Euro 2024 after Rice was hit back to the criticism of the gloomy group stage of England. He said: “The modern player seems to be a bit more delicate for criticism.
“I know that there is more of it because of social media, but again, these players … I assess players on actions.”
But Keane was full of praise for rice and arsenal in general after the real game and described it as a “right brilliant European performance”.
Arsenal, 11 points behind Liverpool in the Premier League with only seven games to play, returns to Brentford at home on Saturday before going to the Spanish capital for the return bone on Wednesday.
Become a member of our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of mirror football content. We also deal with our members of the community on special offers, promotions and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can view every time you like. If you are curious, you can read our privacy statement.