Rice's stunning freekick double fires Arsenal to 3-0 win over Real Madrid

Declan Rice's two fantastic freekicks and a striker's finish from Mikel Merino gave Arsenal an emphatic 3-0 victory over Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

The hosts had the better of the first half as Real began slowly, with Eduardo Camavinga almost conceding a calamitous own goal when he blocked Antonio Rudiger's clearance before Thomas Partey shot straight at Thibault Courtois.

Real grew into the contest and threatened on the break, though their few opportunities came from Arsenal errors and the reigning champions looked disjointed throughout.

Courtois was by far the busier goalkeeper and produced a stunning double save on the stroke of halftime to keep the game level.

There was no stopping Rice's opener, though, a fierce shot around the wall and beyond Courtois in the 58th minute for the midfielder's first senior goal from a direct freekick.

"It's been in the locker, but I've hit the wall too many times or it's gone over the bar. Originally I was going to cross it, and then I just have seen the wall with the goalkeeper's position. I thought... just go for it," Rice said.

Arsenal could have been two-up shortly after, but for more heroics from Courtois, who produced a diving stop from Gabriel Martinelli followed by another from Merino in between David Alaba's goalline block.

Rice's second freekick was even better than the first, curled straight into the top corner in the 70th minute, to leave the 15-time European champions looking stunned.

Merino then coolly fired substitute Leandro Trossard's pull-back into the bottom corner 15 minutes from time to give Arsenal a sizeable lead to take to Madrid next week.

Real will have to try and overhaul that lead without Camavinga, who was shown a second yellow card in the closing seconds for kicking the ball away.

The visitors did have some half-chances, most notably through Kylian Mbappe who scuffed his shot at the end of a fast break with the score still 0-0 in the first half.

But Real were unconvincing in attack and have now conceded 11 goals in their last four games in all competitions, while Arsenal have not lost a European tie when scoring three goals in the first leg.

Unused substitute Lucas Vazquez conceded Real were nowhere near their best but nonetheless, given his side's European pedigree, warned Arsenal his team were far from finished.

"The tie is complicated, but if there's one team in the world that can turn it around, it's us, in our stadium and with our fans," he told Movistar Plus.

The winner of the tie will face either Aston Villa or Paris St Germain in the semi-finals.