How Declan Rice defied Arsenal's set-piece coach to score sensational free kicks

As Arsenal's set-piece coach, Nicolas Jover has been the mastermind behind the team's uptick in goals from dead-ball situations.

It seems like he cannot take any credit for Declan Rice's two amazing free kicks against Real Madrid.

Rice bent one around a defensive wall to put Arsenal in front and then whipped another free kick into the top corner a few minutes later, setting up a 3-0 win over Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.

The England international revealed, however, that it might never have happened had he listened to Jover — the man credited with turning Arsenal into set-piece kings in the Premier League this season since joining from Manchester City's coaching staff.

“We were planning to cross the ball to the back post,” Rice said of his first goal, when asked why Jover was making a gesture to curl the ball while stood in the technical area as Rice and Bukayo Saka lined up the free kick. "He wanted us to reverse-cross it, but I stood with Bukayo and said, ‘It doesn’t feel right to cross the ball here.'

“I looked at the wall and at (Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut) Courtois, and I see that space for the right foot around the outside of the wall. And Bukayo said, ‘If you feel it, take it.’ I said, ‘You know what, I’m going for it.' If you don't take the risk, you don't score.”

Rice had never scored from a direct free kick in his previous 338 matches as a professional.

Indeed, the last time Arsenal scored intentionally from a direct free kick was in September 2021, when Martin Odegaard did so against Burnley.

“It's been a long time,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “So to score two goals in 12 minutes, of that magnitude, of that quality, from the same player — a player who has never scored a free kick before in his career ... What are the odds?”

The result put Arsenal on the brink of returning to the semifinals for the first time since 2009. The second leg is in Madrid next week.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Arsenal's Mikel Merino, second left, celebrates with his teammate Declan Rice after scoring his side's third goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Arsenal's Declan Rice celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Arsenal's Declan Rice, left, scores his side's opening goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Arsenal's Declan Rice, left, scores his side's opening goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Arsenal's Declan Rice, left, scores his side's opening goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Arsenal's Declan Rice, left, scores his side's opening goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Arsenal's Declan Rice, top, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Arsenal's Declan Rice celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Arsenal's Declan Rice celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)