Topics: Declan Rice, Champions League, Arsenal, FC Porto, Football
Declan Rice has cleared up social media speculation surrounding a photo of the Arsenal midfielder with 'stained shorts' during the Champions League win over Porto.
The Gunners won 1-0 after extra time on the night to level the scores 1-1 on aggregate, with Leandro Trossard netting in the first half.
Goalkeeper David Raya then saved two penalties in the shootout, with his stop of Galeno's spot kick ultimately winning the tie for Arsenal.
There were scenes of joyous celebrations among the Gunners players and staff, who will now prepare to take on Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals alongside their pursuit of winning the Premier League title.
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During the game, there was a moment where Rice bent down to take a corner, with the camera shot showing the back of his shorts.
Many fans speculated that Rice had picked up the stain by diving on the pitch at some point - while others came up with a, let's say, slightly different conclusion.
The topic was discussed on the latest edition of The Peter Crouch Podcast, as it had piqued the interest of former Reading, Chelsea and England midfielder Steve Sidwell.
Sidwell wanted to find out the answer to the social media speculation, explaining: "There's a picture that's circulated on social media of Declan Rice. He's bending over to take a corner, and there's a dark stain on his shorts.
"We can confirm and deny this straight away hopefully."
Sidwell then actually sent Rice a message live on-air to clarify what the stain on his shorts was - and the Arsenal star did in fact get back to him with an answer in which he denied the rumour.
In a voice note aired on the podcast, he said: "I've seen that [photo] circulating, and it does look very suspicious. That's because there is nothing else around the shorts other than that area.
"I can confirm there were no skidders, mate. So I'm happy to assume it's 100 per cent mud.
"I did fly into a few tackles and got myself in a few positions... So yeah mate, it definitely ain't that."
