Topics: Arsenal, Real Madrid, Richard Keys, Football, Declan Rice
Richard Keys has called out an Arsenal player for a 'daft' mistake against Real Madrid, claiming he was 'lucky'.
Arsenal beat Real 5-1 on aggregate to book their spot in the Champions League semi-finals, setting up a monstrous clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
Bukayo Saka, who was involved in a furious altercation at half-time, missed a penalty before redeeming himself in the 65th minute with the game's opener. Vinicius Jr pounced on a William Saliba mistake to level proceedings.
Gabriel Martinelli grabbed his side's winner in stoppage time to knock the holders out of the competition, with Thibaut Courtois calling out his own teammates in an extraordinary post-match interview.
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The course of the match, however, could have been very different had match referee Francois Letexier not overturned his penalty decision.
Declan Rice pulled down Kylian Mbappe, with the referee pointing to the spot before overturning his decision following a lengthy VAR review.
UEFA released a statement in the wake of the incident as Keys believes Real should have been awarded a penalty, claiming Rice was 'lucky' not to concede a foul.
The 67-year-old also claimed Rice was 'daft' to grab a hold of Mbappe.
On X, he wrote: "Official reason Madrid pen was overturned 'because of a non-foul by Rice'. What? I’ve no idea what that means in law. Do they mean simulation? If so why wasn’t Mbappe booked? I thought Rice was lucky. He was daft to grab hold of a player after the pen Arsenal got."
Rice received rave reviews following his stunning showing against Real at the Bernabeu.
Mikel Arteta as well as TNT Sports pundits Martin Keown and Rio Ferdinand hailed the 26-year-old's commanding performance.
"He turned the game around," Arsenal boss Arteta told TNT Sports. "He was immense, he made a difference."
Keown added: "Declan Rice was up against Jude Bellingham and there was only one winner. He was absolutely magnificent."
Ferdinand said: "You need games like this in your career. You need to get to places like this to be properly judged.
"He's stood up against the holders of this trophy and he's not just competed, he's run the show, he's run the show in both games. He's put himself in another bracket."
