Dutch legend Wesley Sneijder has slammed Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for allowing Declan Rice to score twice from easy free-kicks as Arsenal thrashed them 3-0
in midweek. Rice became the first player to score two free-kicks in a Champions League knockout round game and helped the Gunners to an impressive first-leg advantage. Arsenal
manager Mikel Arteta hailed his side’s two fantastic free-kicks as “two fantastic moments” but Sneijder, who made his name as a free-kick specialist during his playing days, disagreed:
“It wasn’t that impressive a free-kick,” แทงบอล UFABET ราคาดีที่สุด ไม่มีขั้นต่ำ the former Madrid man, who won the Champions League with Inter Milan, said during his time as a pundit.
“I know it sounds strange but it is very easy to curve the ball like that as long as you know how to place your feet. I know these things. “
Madrid got their wall wrong for the first goal. Courtois thought Saka, who is left-footed, would take it. This forced him to move the wall further to the right to close his angle. “
In the end, the Madrid wall was too far on the left, Courtois should not have allowed a right-footed player to shoot around the wall from that angle.”
Another Dutch legend, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, agreed: “I think Wesley is right, the wall was too far on the left and Rice could have scored easily.”
Marco van Basten, also in attendance, turned to praise the second free-kick: “It’s just a beautiful strike, you can’t do more to defend it than that.”
Sneijder, however, had one more qualm: “It was a fairly long free-kick. If you watch the replay, you can see Courtois stepping to the right. “
That’s because of the hesitation from the first goal, it meant that Courtois didn’t have a chance to close his angle. If he had trusted the wall and closed his angle, he would have saved it.”