Declan Rice clearly rejected Wayne Rooney’s statement that Arsenal had a “psychological fear” of winning trophies and struck a bullish tone in front of the Wednesday Champions League semifinal against Paris Saint-Germain.
Rice could not help arsenal to avoid a 1-0 defeat to the emirates last week. After starring in a total triumph of 5-1 to defend the Champions of Real Madrid in the quarterfinals, the English midfielder struggled to replicate his heroics from any action, as the hosts were comfortably struck.
Manchester United Icon Rooney questioned the mentality of Mikel Arteta’s squad after the Reverse of first leg. “There is a psychological fear of not exceeding lines,” said former England Amazon Prime Video Pundit last week.
“I think there is a fear! An obstacle they have to overcome. They have run the city and Liverpool nearby, but you have to be successful in the trip and I don’t think they are doing these steps. Arsenal is used to reaching a certain stage of the season and things fall. I’m telling the truth.”
When these comments were put in Rice in front of Wednesday’s decisive tie in the French capital, he firmly disagreed, pointing to Arsenal 2-0 victory over PSG In October. “It was the same team that was not (Ousmane) Dembele and (Khvicha) Kvaratskhelia. Everyone started and we beat them,” said Rice. “So there is no fear.
“ I think the goal within three minutes probably struck us a bit, shocked the atmosphere a bit. But once we found a point of view in the game again, we started creating possibilities.The goalkeeper made some surprising savings.We believed that we could overcome them. Obviously it was not thought to be, but we have seen enough and we know enough as a team that we can really do. ”
Bukayo Saka was even more confident than his teammate. “It is far from ending,” the English attack said Sky Sports. “I think it is important to keep us calm, but obviously we know that we have another level to go and I think we will show it in Paris and I am sure we can turn it around.”
