Rice and Arteta can fire Gunners' to greatness

TWENTY-THREE clubs have won the Champions League or European Cup as it was originally known.

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Arsenal aren't one of those.

Now there is a reason why this matters because as a club they are widely regarded as an English institution, 13-times League champions, a record 14-times winners of the FA Cup.

That, as well as a 60,000-seater stadium, makes them a big club.

But winning a Champions League elevates you into a great one.

And there is a difference. Add a Champions League to your CV and your status changes.

Look at how Ajax and Benfica continue to be regarded even though they have done nothing significant in years.

And the same can be said for other one-time winners, Aston Villa, Steaua Bucharest, Hamburg, PSV Eindhoven.

That's why the events of the last nine days matter.

Until Declan Rice scored the first of his two wonderful free-kicks, no one in Europe really believed they had the ability to knock Real Madrid out of the competition.

But while football is always evolving in a tactical sense, one constant always remains.

Attitude wins. The team with togetherness and a work ethic will always stand a chance.

Arsenal had that across the two legs. Real Madrid did not.

They played like fakes.

This idea that Jude Bellingham is a great player doesn't wash. He isn't.

Great players turn up in big games. Bellingham stayed in the dressing room.

Instead it was another English international - someone who would still be an Ireland international if Martin O'Neill had done his job properly who shone.

And that is Declan Rice.

Those two free-kicks he scored at the Emirates were then matched by the quality of his leadership in the Bernabeu.