Declan Rice has spoken out after Arsenal's Champions League final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, comparing a penalty not given to his side to one they received earlier in the competition. The midfielder was furious after Noni Madueke went down under a challenge from Nuno Mendes in extra time, but the referee waved play on.
Rice referenced Arsenal's round of 16 first leg against Bayer Leverkusen, where Madueke won a penalty after contact with Malik Tillman. 'At first glance on the pitch, I think he's ahead of Nuno Mendes, and if I'm looking back at the one we got against Bayer Leverkusen, it's very, very similar,' Rice told TNT Sports after the match.
PSG were awarded a penalty earlier in the final when Cristhian Mosquera fouled Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, with Ousmane Dembele converting from the spot. Rice admitted he was 'gutted' at the time and believed the referee should have reviewed the incident. 'It was obviously not clear enough to be a pen. I thought it was, and so did our bench and our players,' he added.
Manager Mikel Arteta also felt it should have been a penalty after watching replays. 'I watched it back and you can easily see a penalty. Especially when you see the penalties in the competition this season,' Arteta told TNT Sports. Both Rice and Arteta were booked for their protests.
Despite the disappointment, Rice insisted the defeat would not define the group. 'He's gutted, yeah, he's gutted. We're all gutted, it's a Champions League final, the emotions and the stakes are so high. It's cruel, it's cruel; that's football,' he said. 'But we keep building. Since I came to the club, it was a quarterfinal exit, semi-final, now a final. This ain't gonna define us.'
