Declan Rice is full of confidence ahead of Arsenal’s clash against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday night.
Declan Rice has described himself as a ‘big-game player’ as he aims to play the game of his life in Arsenal’s clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
The 27-year-old midfielder can etch his name into folklore at the Puskas Arena on Saturday night and win Europe’s elite competition for the first time in the Gunners’ history. Rice has played a key role in Mikel Arteta’s side this season, featuring in all but two Champions League fixtures. The England international only missed a couple of ‘league phase’ ties before leading Arsenal through the knockout stage, all the way to Budapest, Hungary.
En route to the final, Rice won three player of the match awards, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Julian Alvarez. In fact, only four players have won more player of the match awards in the Champions League this season: Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, Harry Kane, Victor Osimhen, and Francisco Trincao have each been recognised for their efforts on four occasions.
In an interview with UEFA ahead of the clash against PSG this weekend, the Arsenal midfielder backed himself to relish the showpiece event. Rice said: “I would like to say I’m a big-game player.
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“When you play in the biggest competitions, you need your players to step up at every single point, and not only just me. I think our team have done that over the last few years in big games – we’ve stepped up, especially in the Champions League.
“There’s a few of us that have got that in us, and we’re going to need that going into the final as well. In football, you can’t determine before the game whether you’re going to play well or not. It’s the unknown.
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“But what you can control is how you start the game off, how [much] confidence you can build within yourself. And whether that’s with your first touch, a tackle, a header, always do the first thing right, and you build from there.”
PSG knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League in the semi-finals last season. On facing Luis Enrique’s side again, Rice said: “PSG are a really good side. [We] played them over two legs last year.
“It could have gone either way, so speaking about it now, may the best team win. What did we learn from last season’s semi-final defeat? That you’ve got to take your chances, because we had plenty of them.
“It wasn’t meant to be, but it’s [those] moments that set you up for the moments that are coming. We’ll be ready,” claimed Rice. “You need to be on your A game to beat PSG.
“You need that fuel in your belly from the first whistle, that you’re going to win this final. It’s the biggest competition in football. Champions League final, it gets no bigger than that.
“What a chance, what an opportunity. It’ll be the last kick of club football for the season, so to go out on a high and give it absolutely everything, one last empty of the tank and give it everything you’ve got to win such a beautiful trophy with this club.”
Rice will hope he can walk the walk when Arsenal meet PSG in the Champions League final on Saturday night…
