Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal clash and Declan Rice have been accused of making a wrong decision during the match.
Rice was Arsenal’s hero during the quarterfinal clash against Real Madrid. The former West Ham United captain scored two free kick in the first leg and put in a brilliant shift in the second leg at Santiago Bernebeu.
However, Manchester United legend Rooney while making remarks on Arsenal’s game against PSG questioned Rice’s positioning before Ousmane Dembele found the back of the net.
Rooney praised PSG for their swift attacking play but thinks Rice made “the wrong decision” to mark support Jurrien Timber against Khvicha Kvaratskhelia over marking Dembele.
Ousmane Dembele celebrates scoring against Arsenal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Semi Final First Leg match at Emirates Stadium. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
“This is a really good pass, breaks the lines and then Dembele gets the ball, gets driving at the Arsenal defence and then plays it out wide,” Rooney began.
“Now Arsenal have enough time to recover and Declan Rice just makes the wrong decision. He comes in, he thinks he is trying to cover his teammate but by leaving that space at the edge of the box, that’s where the danger is, that’s where Dembele is.
“It’s in the quarter-final, semi-final, final of the Champions League, the details of what you’re talking about, that’s what wins or loses you the competition and today Arsenal just didn’t get a lot of the details right and that’s what cost them the game.”
Despite Rooney’s opinion on the goal, former Liverpool star Daniel Sturridge defended Rice, noting that Mikel Merino ran back into an area in the penalty box rather than defending Dembele.
He said: “I don’t look at that goal and say it’s Declan Rice’s fault.
“On the other side, Merino makes a defensive run back, he ran into a position, he doesn’t run towards the ball. He makes the run back, if you look where Dembele is now…Merino is tracking back to the penalty spot, he’s not gone towards the ball to effect what’s going to happen. The cut-back is there.
“Rice is going over to help, so if my mate is going over to help in the other position, he’s (Merino) just worried about getting back into position, he’s not worried about where the ball can be played.”
