"He [Beckham] messaged me on Instagram about it. That was crazy, because he had some of the biggest moments ever with free-kicks. I remember the first time I met Beckham was in Qatar. We all approached him. Every player was like, he was a god, you know, because it's Becks."
"When I put the ball down [for a set piece], it's just all about feel. It's knowing where you're going to put the ball, how much pace you're going to put on it. People might go: 'How do you know that?' You've got to go off instinct. I know it can cause chaos, but it's one of our strengths."
Declan Rice delivered a standout performance with two free-kick goals against Real Madrid in the Champions League, helping Arsenal secure a 5-1 aggregate victory. The impressive display caught the attention of David Beckham, who messaged Rice on Instagram to commend his performance. Rice reflected on meeting Beckham in Qatar and discussed his approach to free-kicks, emphasizing the importance of feel, instinct, and knowing ball placement and pace. He credited free-kicks as a key strength for Arsenal this season as they lead the Premier League by five points and topped the Champions League league phase.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]