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Declan Rice says that Arsenal’s 4-3 penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final will not define Mikel Arteta’s team.
Arsenal took the lead just six minutes into the final in Budapest as Kai Havertz blasted home the opening goal but a mistake from Cristhian Mosquera offered Ousmane Dembele the chance to equalise from the penalty spot.
With the match ending 1-1 after an additional 30 minutes of extra-time, the final was decided by a penalty shootout with Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhaes missing their spot kicks for the Gunners.
Rice spoke to TNT Sports following the defeat and labelled the loss as ‘devastating’ but drew comfort from the progress his side have made this season.
“It’s devastating to lose the Champions League final on penalties but I’m trying to take a lot of perspective from who far we’ve come as a group,” he said.
“An incredible season, given absolutely everything up to this point. We took the game to penalties and it’s a lottery. You either win on pens or lose on pens, some of the best teams ever have lost on penalties in finals and we were on the receiving end of that tonight.”
Rice was then asked how Eze and Gabriel felt after missing the crucial spot kicks, a fate that has to befall on at least one player in every shootout, and he admitted that they were gutted by how cruel football can be.”
Rice added: “[They’re] devastated. That happens in football, they’re not going to be the last players to miss penalties in finals. Everyone’s missed a penalty and without them two this season we wouldn’t have won the Premier League, that’s for sure.
“Gabriel, I’ve run out of words for him as a person, as a player, and Eze as well, the crucial goals he’s come up with for us this year. It happens, it’s football, it’s cruel. We take the positives and we’ll keep going.”
Rice was then asked how Arteta addressed the group in the aftermath of the defeat and the midfielder revealed that despite feeling ‘gutted’ over the result, the loss would not define this team.
“He’s gutted. We’re all gutted. It’s the Champions League final, the emotions and the stakes are so high,” he continued. “It’s cruel but he just spoke about how much he loves us as a group, this season, what we’ve done in terms of how we’ve given 100% in every single game.
“I think we’ve come really far as a group this year. We got over the line in the Premier League and this would have been one step further but it wasn’t meant to be. This isn’t going to define us.”
