This Wednesday at 9pm (CET), Paris Saint-Germain take on Arsenal at the Parc des Princes in the second leg of their Champions League 2024-2025 semi-final (0-1 win in the first leg). In a press conference, Declan Rice, the Gunners’ 26-year-old midfielder, spoke about this particular and difficult encounter, but one for which he has high hopes.
Rice: “90 minutes left to reach the final”.
“The approach to the match
It hasn’t changed anything for us. There are 90 minutes left to get to the final, and the coach has told us what we have to do tomorrow. Tomorrow, we have to win. We’re in a positive frame of mind. We’ve got our own identity and we’re not going to change that for tomorrow’s game, and neither will Paris.
On PSG
Paris is a very good team. Tomorrow, they’ll no doubt have the ball. We’re going to have to be compact and try to win the ball back from them as much as possible. We were a bit shaky in the first quarter of an hour, and we had to get into the game. But after that, we created more chances and gained confidence. In the second half too, we had some great chances.
Rice “It would be a giant step for Arsenal”.
What’s at stake in the semi-final
Tomorrow is just a game. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself because it’s a Champions League semi-final. We can really do it, make history tonight. Tomorrow, it’ll be the same kind of atmosphere as at Real Madrid. It would be a giant step for Arsenal, but if we want to be among the best, we absolutely have to win.
Rice: “Luis Enrique is tactically very good”.
On Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique is tactically very good. His team moves around a lot, but once we got into the game in the first leg, we created chances.
On the return of Thomas Partey
He can bring calm. Playing with him, I realize that he’s very calm, composed and reassuring for the whole team. I think he’s very important and doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. He helps us all to be better players”, comments relayed by 90min.
Everyone knows what they have to do, what they have to say. Rice is right to galvanize his troops: there’s only one goal to climb. However, PSG will also need to calm things down by not getting carried away. To win at the Parc des Princes, Arsenal will have to be better. There will be no room for complacency between the two teams, even if Paris have an advantage that could turn into a real mission for the Gunners at any moment.
If Paris score, the mountain will be hard to climb, because we can already imagine that the English will have to score at least two goals on Wednesday. A single goal will send them all into the Champions League, but with so much space left, Paris will be keen to punish any Arsenal hopes. It’s going to be a thrilling semi-final second leg. We can’t wait.
