Declan Rice made Graeme Souness eat his words with two sensational performances in Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final victory over Real Madrid.

Rice produced two Player of the Match displays to help Arsenal stun European champions Real Madrid and advance to the semi-final stage.

It was two brilliant Rice free-kicks in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium that set Arsenal on their way but the England midfielder was just as influential at the Bernabeu.

Rio Ferdinand and Ally McCoist both praised Rice for ‘running the show’ against Madrid just a few days after Souness questioned his status as a ‘world-class’ player.

Writing in a Daily Mail column in-between the quarter-final legs, Souness said: ‘There is nothing to dislike about Declan Rice but we need to apply some perspective before declaring him world class for scoring two free-kicks against Real Madrid.

‘He comes across as a great guy, I like to hear him speak and he talks with great honesty. I’m sure he is a dream to have in the dressing room but I’m sorry, two wonderful free-kicks do not make you a great player.

‘We get over excited easily in this country, particularly in the media, we are all guilty of it. Even if you win the FA Youth Cup you are considered a “club legend”. 

‘We are too quick to apply ‘”legend” or “worldie” status on the back of emotional events. We need to calm down and not get ahead of ourselves. 

‘We talked about a genuine world class player in Kevin de Bruyne last week. Declan is not there yet.’

Souness said Rice needed to offer more in the final third to take his game to the next level.

He added: ‘The challenge now is for him to go on and be better in that area.

‘Obviously, he has worked hard at his game and is improving. At 26 I don’t ever see that work ethic changing in him either.

‘He certainly is a wonderful dead-ball kicker and that is why, despite being 6ft 2ins tall, he is being sacrificed for set-pieces because otherwise with that physique he’d be a wonderful aerial threat in the box.’

Rice in ‘another bracket’ after Madrid displays

Ex-Manchester United and England defender Ferdinand said Rice had entered ‘another bracket’ following his superb performances in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

‘You need games like this in your career. You need to get to places like this to be properly judged,’ Ferdinand said.

‘He’s stood up against the holders of this trophy and he’s not just competed, he’s run the show, he’s run the show in both games.

‘He’s put himself in another bracket, I think after these two games he’s in another bracket.’

Fellow TNT Sports pundit McCoist added: ‘Over the two games, he’s been the outstanding player on the pitch.

‘He was monumental. He was the best player on the pitch in both games. His level of performance was quite magnificent.’

Arsenal legend Wright hails Rice

Meanwhile, Arsenal hero Ian Wright was also full of praise for Rice after Real Madrid were eliminated from the Champions League.

‘Nobody can ever question him,’ legendary ex-Arsenal striker Wright said on the Wrighty’s House podcast.

‘You see all these podcasters being disrespectful, but Declan Rice, over two games, absolutely wiped the floor with that team with his performance.

‘It was a performance where you’re looking at a player and you’re thinking: yeah, we know he’s good and he’s getting better. We saw the two goals last week that we haven’t seen before.

‘We’ve seen on a weekly basis that he’s just improving and getting better in any position that he’s asked to play in, whether that’s crashing the box, whether it’s six, whether it’s eight.

‘He was everywhere! He was everywhere! As we sit here right now, he is in the top three midfielders in the world.’

Rice will make his 100th appearance for Arsenal before the end of the season, having joined the club in a £105m move from West Ham in 2023.

Next up for Rice and Arsenal in the Champions League is a semi-final clash with French champions PSG, who have already knocked out Aston Villa and Liverpool.

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‘Collectively, individually, they are off the charts right now.’