In front of its adoring crowd, the North London club took a huge step towards the Champions League semifinal by beating Spanish juggernaut Real Madrid 3-0 in its quarterfinal first-leg. But amid the frenzied scenes inside the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, the story of the night belonged to one man; Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice.

After a first half at the Emirates that saw chances for both sides, Declan Rice opened the scoring with a world-class free kick around Madrid's wall in the 58th minute. Rice then repeated the feat 12 minutes later with a second, even better free-kick goal.

The Champions League is halfway to the semifinals with Wednesday delivering wins for two of the competition's favorites, a status that was vindicated in style. Barcelona in particular can start planning for semifinals in Milan or Munich after a thumping 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund,