'We knew we were going to win' - Declan Rice reveals Arsenal had no doubts about silencing Real Madrid comeback narrative as England star picks up consecutive Player of the Match awards in Champions League tie

The Gunners, already holding a 3-0 advantage from the first leg of their quarter-final tie, held firm in hostile territory to secure a 2-1 win on the night and a 5-1 triumph on aggregate. Rice once again took centre stage, repeating his man-of-the-match performance from the first leg and leading the team to a landmark result in club history.

Despite Madrid’s reputation for staging dramatic turnarounds in European competitions, Arsenal’s players entered the return fixture with confidence and purpose. Speaking after the match, Rice revealed that the belief within the squad was unwavering, regardless of the intimidating environment at the Bernabeu.

In a post-match interview with TNT Sports, Rice said: "I just think it’s such a special night for this club, a historic night for this club. We have an objective in this competition. We want to play the best teams, and we want to win this competition. There was a lot of talk coming here about them coming back, because they have done it so many times before. But we had so much belief and confidence from that first leg that we had enough to come here and win the game. We knew we were going to suffer. But we knew we were going to win. We did it in my mind, and then we did it in real life. What a night for the club.”

While Arsenal have not lifted a Premier League title in over two decades, their run in the Champions League has injected fresh optimism into a fanbase hungry for silverware. The significance of toppling the defending European champions away from home hasn’t been lost on anyone associated with the club.

Rice added: “I sensed it before I signed for the club that we were on an upward trajectory. I felt it, with the players we’ve got. It’s been tough in the Premier League this year. We lost out last year on a point, and this year it’s slipped away from us. But in this competition, we’ve done amazingly well. This club is going to do special things over the next few years. We all fully believe it. We all have full trust in this manager, he’s unbelievable, and we’ve got players like [Myles Lewis-Skelly] and Ethan [Nwaneri] coming through who really want it."

Arsenal will now face Paris Saint-Germain in the final four. They are a familiar opponent as the Gunners defeated PSG 2-0 in the group stage earlier this season, but Rice acknowledged the French giants are a different animal now.

“Semi-finals is massive for us, and we just want to take tonight in," he said. "PSG next, they’re an amazing team. We’ve played them once already. We feel they’re a different team from then. We’ve seen what they can do, but we also saw what [Aston] Villa did to them last night [Tuesday] — caused them a lot of problems.”

The semi-final first leg will take place at the Emirates Stadium on April 29, with the second leg in Paris scheduled for May 7.