Wesley Sneijder rubbishes 'magic' Declan Rice free-kicks claim from Mikel Arteta in bizarre rant as he slams Real Madrid & Thibaut Courtois for letting Arsenal midfielder score 'very easy' goals

Rice sent the ball curling past Madrid's wall and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to give Arsenal the lead just before the hour mark in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie. Twelve minutes later, he blasted into the top corner to double their lead before Mikel Merino secured a 3-0 win at the Emirates Stadium.

Rice revealed the initial plan was to whip in a cross, but said that he saw the goalkeeper's position before Bukayo Saka told him to have a go if he 'felt it' as he blasted into the net. Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta described the England international's goals as "magic moments", but ex-Madrid and Ajax star Sneijder dismissed the hype.

"That wall wasn’t positioned properly for that first goal. [Courtois] assumes that Saka will take it, he is a left-footer," Sneijder said on Ziggo Sport. "Then he can move the wall a bit more to the right, so that he can take his own corner. A right-footed player should never be able to shoot around the wall from that angle. That’s not allowed. It seems a bit crazy what I’m going to say now. This seems very difficult, but for a right-footed player this is very easy. If you have a good strike then this is a very easy ball. When you are on the pitch, you see that the ball has to go around the wall on that side. The wall was too far to the left."

Arsenal face Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday before heading to the Spanish capital for the return fixture against Carlo Ancelotti's men on April 16.