Sneijder claims Rice's two free-kicks against Real Madrid 'were extremely EASY'

Declan Rice stunned Real Madrid with two sucker-punch free-kicks on Tuesday night in a performance that has been hailed far and wide, though one former Champions League winner proved harder to please than most.

The English midfielder broke the deadlock with an exceptional free-kick from range, before following it up just 12 minutes later with an even better effort that arced into the top corner.

Mikel Merino then added a third in the 75th minute to make it 3-0, and the Gunners closed out a massive clean sheet win against the competition's holders, Rice naturally picking up the Player of the Match award for his troubles.

Since that point he has received widespread praise for his performance, which also saw him completely boss the midfield and conduct his side's tempo admirably.

But a former Real Madrid and Inter Milan maestro was seemingly unimpressed with the England star's free-kick goals, claiming that his first effort was 'extremely easy', and the second down to a goalkeeping mistake.

'I don't think the free kick(s) were that impressive,' Dutch legend Wesley Sneijder revealed on Dutch TV channel Ziggo Sport.

'This may sound strange, but it's extremely easy to curve a ball like that as long as you know how to take a shot, and I know all about this. The wall was at fault here.

'The same for the 2nd free kick, you saw Courtois moving to his right just before Rice took it, a mistake by the goalkeeper.'

Sneijder was backed up in part by former Dutch team-mate and ex-Arsenal double winner Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

'I think Wesley is right,' the former Gunners defender said of the first goal. 'You can see that the wall is too far to the left, which makes it easy for Rice to shoot past.'

Wall positioning aside, both efforts were fantastically struck free-kicks that left Thibaut Courtois little chance of pulling off a save.

Interestingly, though, Rice had never before scored a direct free-kick ahead of the game; by full-time, he had two.

His double whammy also further solidified Arsenal's reputation as set-piece specialists, with Rice's second free-kick their 21st non-penalty set-piece goal of the campaign across all competitions - more than any other Premier League team.

There was however more to their dominance than two free-kicks, with Merino's third - the icing on the cake - coming after a flowing 16-pass move stemming from David Raya, the second-highest number of passes starting from a goalkeeper to result in a goal.

Last night, Arsenal defied the odds to blow Real Madrid off the field at the Emirates, recording 11 shots on target in the match, the joint-highest tally any side has ever managed against Los Blancos in the knockouts.

Naturally, Rice was still in shock, unable to fully process quite what he'd done after the game, and in an insightful interview with club legend Thierry Henry, revealed it was the best moment in his career so far.

'I can't describe it, I don't think it's going to hit me what I've done tonight,' he told CBS Sports Golazo. 'Two free-kicks in a quarter-final against Real Madrid at home, it's so special. I'm so happy, probably the best moment in my career for sure.

'In these big games I always try to step up, and I thought: 'Go out there and have no fear - what've you got to lose? It's a game of football against Real Madrid, if you have fear good things aren't going to happen!'

'We really believed as a team that we could win tonight. Every time we had the ball we tried to be a threat, I tried to run with it as much as I can, constantly trying to be a threat, probably should have had two.

'I went out there and I was fearless and I was ready like you said, to prove a point, and we did that.'