Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson was laughed at by colleagues following his reaction to Declan Rice delivering Arsenal a famous Champions League win over Real Madrid
Paul Merson was swiftly reined in by the Sky Sports crew after calling Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid “the greatest night at the Emirates”. However, it wasn’t the extent of that compliment that saw his colleagues laugh at their fellow pundit – but more the manner in which he reacted to Declan Rice’s Champions League heroics.
Rice, 26, delivered two free-kicks of the highest quality to give the Gunners their first win over Los Blancos since 2006. And the result has put Arsenal on the brink of a first Champions League semi-final appearance in more than 15 years.
It’s unsurprising that Merson – who scored 99 goals in 423 appearances for Arsenal – was quick to put the result up there with some of the club’s most iconic of all time. And he stood firm in his assertion that the win over the reigning kings of Europe was Arsenal’s best since moving into the Emirates almost 19 years ago.
“It’s got to be. It’s got to be,” said the Arsenal icon on Sky Sports. “He’s never, ever scored a free-kick in his life. Ever. Well, since being professional. I don’t know if he got one when he was 10.”
It was then that Sky’s microphones picked up at least one unnamed colleague giggling at the correction. Though the higher pitch of the laugh suggests that Steve Sidwell or Sue Smith were perhaps the culprit.
Merson, 57, didn’t break stride as he continued to gush over Rice’s devastating dead-ball double, however. And for good reason, particularly when one considers the quality of the man in goal attempting to keep both his efforts out.
“The two [free-kicks] are just unbelievable,” he added. “The one, he’s bent – it’s got to be about three yards outside the post, whips back in.
“And the other one – [Thibaut] Courtois is over that side, and he puts it in the top corner and hits the side netting when it goes in. That’s how good a goal it was.”
Merson also lauded Mikel Merino for his smartly taken third on the night, which was nowhere near as easy as the Spaniard made it look. Arsenal have enjoyed a litany of iconic wins at the Emirates.
Their 5-0 drubbing of Chelsea just last year, a 7-3 win over Newcastle in 2012 or battering Burnley 5-0 in Arsene Wenger’s farewell fixture would previously have been in contention for Merson’s title. But it’s difficult to argue if any of those have the same grandeur of beating Carlo Ancelotti’s Real so convincingly, and with two such iconic goals along the way.
Even amid the majesty of those strikes, Merson couldn’t help but draw some laughter along the way. The Gunners are only half done, though, with a massive task still awaiting them in the Spanish capital next Wednesday.
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