The night, though, could have turned out very differently for Rice after he was adjudged to have pulled down Kylian Mbappe in the penalty area with the game goalless, earning him a booking too that would have ruled him out of the first leg of the semi-final. However, the decision was overturned by a video...
Via Opta’s expected goals (xG) model, Rice’s first free-kick had an xG of 0.037 (3.7%) and his second an xG of 0.063 (6.3%). The probability of scoring both comes in at a combined total of 0.23%. Or put in layman’s terms, a one-in-435 chance. But which one was better? BBC pundit Green, who was at...
Arsenal are a team that have become renowned for their threat at set-pieces, but direct free-kicks are something different. Arteta said after the game they hadn’t scored one since September 2021, so to score two in 13 minutes against Real Madrid “showed the beauty of whoever invented this sport”. Arsenal’s free-kicks are usually taken by...
