Arsenal stormed to a stunning 3-0 win over Champions League holders Real Madrid as Declan Rice’s free-kick masterclass left the Gunners within touching distance of a place in the semi-finals.

Rice scored two majestic free-kicks in the second half of the quarter-final first leg at the Emirates Stadium.

Mikel Merino added Arsenal’s third goal before Real’s Eduardo Camavinga was sent off for kicking the ball away in the closing minutes to leave the Spanish giants in disarray.

The brilliance of Rice’s brace cannot be understated, with even Real keeper Thibaut Courtois — usually so inspired on Champions League nights — unable to get anywhere near the England midfielder’s thunderbolts.

Incredibly, Rice had never scored a free-kick in his career before the first of his missiles hit the back of the Real net.

It was no more than Arsenal deserved for a mature performance that exposed injury-hit Real in ruthless style.

Mikel Arteta’s men will travel to the Bernabeu for the second leg on April 16 as firm favourites to advance to a semi-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain or Aston Villa, who meet in their quarter-final first leg on Wednesday.

The Gunners have not reached the Champions League semi-finals since 2009, but that target is now within their grasp after an evening that will go down as one of the most memorable in the club’s storied history.

Arteta had labelled the clash with Real as the “biggest night” of his career as he urged his players to write their own history by winning Arsenal’s first Champions League crown.

They rose to the challenge so successfully that even Arteta might have been surprised.

Arsenal trail Premier League leaders Liverpool by 11 points and look destined to finish as runners-up for a third successive season.

But the Champions League now offers Arteta genuine hope of a first major trophy since the 2020 FA Cup, providing they can finish the job in Madrid next week.

Beaten by Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals last season, Arsenal’s only Champions League final appearance ended in defeat against Barcelona in 2006 — a run that included a last 16 victory over Real.

For Real, it was a chastening defeat as the 15-time European champions were punished for the flaws that had already seen them beaten 10 times in all competitions this term as they lag four points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona.

ARSENAL IN DREAMLAND

Jude Bellingham was largely anonymous and Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior posed only sporadic threats after a promising start.

Vinicius Junior threatened in the opening stages, curling wide after Mbappe picked him out inside the Arsenal area.

Mbappe’s electric pace took him clear of the Arsenal defence in another lightning raid, but the France star shot straight at David Raya.

Arsenal showed no signs of being cowed by Real’s star-studded attack and Rice’s towering header from Jurrien Timber’s cross forced a fine save from Thibaut Courtois, who scrambed across to keep out Gabriel Martinelli’s effort from the rebound.

Mbappe lashed into the side-netting from an acute angle, but Real were unable to match Arsenal’s intensity in the second half and the Gunners deservedly took the lead in the 58th minute.

Rice stepped up 25 yards from goal and whipped a sublime free-kick around the Real wall and into the far corner.

It was a stunning strike that even former Real defender and set-piece maestro Roberto Carlos, watching from the Emirates stands, would have been proud of.

Arsenal almost struck again in a remarkable sequence that saw Courtois save Martinelli’s blast before Merino’s shot from the rebound was hacked off the line by David Alaba and Courtois again denied Merino.

Real were on the ropes and Rice landed another devastating blow in the 70th minute, lashing an unstoppable free-kick into the top corner from 20 yards as Courtois grasped at thin air.

As the ecstatic Arsenal fans roared “Declan Rice, we got him half praise”, that reference to his £105 million fee didn’t seem like hyperbole for once.

Arsenal weren’t finished yet and Merino put Arsenal in dreamland five minutes later with a clinical finish from 12 yards as the Emirates turned into a roiling red sea of celebration.

Top seed Alexander Zverev crashed out in his opening match of the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday after losing 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 to Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.

World number two Zverev has struggled for any kind of form since his defeat by Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final at the end of January, winning just six of 12 matches.

“It’s been the worst period since my injury (the) last few months,” said Zverev who has suffered a string of early exits of late, including at Indian Wells.

“I played a great first set, and once I got broken in the second set I play ten levels down. My ball is much slower. I stop hitting the ball.

“The same story the last few months. Nothing changes. So it’s me who lost the match, once again.

“I thought my level was terrible, but that’s just my opinion.”

Zverev won the first set against former Wimbledon runner-up Berrettini but a break of serve in the sixth game of the second set allowed the Italian to level the match.

Berrettini broke at 3-all in the final set before blowing a chance to close out victory on his own serve, but he broke again for a 6-5 lead after an astonishing 48-shot rally.

The 34th-ranked Berrettini made no mistake with his second opportunity though, advancing to a last-16 meeting with Lorenzo Musetti or Jiri Lehecka.

“The game plan was the same but I changed my attitude and the way I was believing in my strokes,” Berrettini said.

“I told myself to be more aggressive and if I am going to lose this match, I am going to do the right things and luckily it worked.”

‘COMFORTABLE ON CLAY’

Berrettini has won 17 of his past 18 matches on clay. Last season, he captured clay-court titles in Marrakesh, Gstaad and Kitzbuehel. However, he hasn’t played at the French Open since 2021 due to injuries.

“I have missed the biggest tournament on clay for the past three years and that was tough and now I want to enjoy it. I feel really comfortable on clay,” said the former world number six.

For Zverev, last year’s Roland Garros runner-up, it was another disappointing outcome on clay after quarter-final exits in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. His next tournament will be on home soil in Munich.

Dane Holger Rune, the 10th seed, retired due to illness against Portugal’s Nuno Borges.

Rune, the Monte Carlo runner-up in 2023, called for the doctor after losing the opening set before shaking hands with his opponent while trailing 6-2, 3-0.

Three-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas begins his title defence against Australia’s Jordan Thompson later on Tuesday, while Novak Djokovic — the winner in 2013 and 2015 — and Carlos Alcaraz start their campaigns on Wednesday.

Hampered by a broken hand, Frenchman Ugo Humbert also made an early exit, eliminated in the first round by Australian Alexei Popyrin 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.

The 26-year-old Humbert, who had fallen to world No. 20 after a difficult US swing in which he won only one match, revealed he suffered a broken little finger after playing with a bandaged right hand.

“I fell and hit my hand against a bedside table. I heard a ‘crack’ and I broke the bone,” he had explained on Saturday before facing Gael Monfils at the UTS in Nimes.

While Humbert failed to join Monfils, Richard Gasquet, and Alexandre Muller in the second round, French number one Arthur Fils asserted his seeded status by defeating Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2.

Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, a two-time Monte Carlo semi-finalist, defeated Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-3, 6-4, on his seventh match point.

European champions England slumped to a shock 3-2 defeat away to Belgium in the Women’s Nations League on Tuesday as France qualified for the last four of the tournament with a 2-0 win in Norway and Spain hammered Portugal to top Group 3.

The four group winners go through to the semis and world champions Spain now lead with nine points after a 7-1 win over third-placed Portugal, with England second on seven and Belgium bottom despite earning their first points of the campaign.

Having slumped 5-0 away to England on Friday, Belgium were a different side at home and led after four minutes through Tessa Wullaert, with Justine Vanhaevermaet adding a second before Wullaert struck again to make it 3-0 after 29 minutes.

Beth Mead won and converted a penalty six minutes later to reduce the deficit for the shell-shocked Lionesses but the Belgians refused to buckle until England’s teenage striker Michelle Agyemang scored a stunner a minute after coming on.

Brought into the squad to replace the injured Alessia Russo, the 19-year-old controlled the ball with her thigh before firing a rocket into the top corner in the 81st but England could not build on her wonder goal as Belgium held on doggedly to win.

France’s Sandy Baltimore and Clara Mateo struck in Oslo to secure victory over Norway in Group 2 as a fourth win from four games gave their side an unassailable eight-point lead over the hosts with two games left. Iceland are third on three points after their 3-3 draw at home to Euro 2025 hosts Switzerland.

Germany remain top of Group 1 on goal difference after a 6-1 thrashing of visitors Scotland that leaves them on 10 points ahead of Netherlands, who eased to a 3-1 win in Austria, with the top two set to meet in the next round of games on May 30.

In Group 4, second-placed Italy can knock Sweden off top spot when the sides meet next month after the Italians scored three second-half goals to win 3-0 away to Denmark. The Swedes are two points off the pace after a 1-1 home draw with Wales.