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.

AFP

The appeal is contained in a statement jointly issued on Monday by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher; UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell; UNOPS Executive Director, Jorge Moreira da Silva; Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini; Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Cindy McCain and; Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

In the statement, the UN officials stressed the need for urgent action to protect civilians, facilitate aid, release hostages and renew a ceasefire.

“For over a month, no commercial or humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza,” they regretted.

According to the rest of the statement, “More than 2.1 million people are trapped, bombed and starved again, while, at crossing points, food, medicine, fuel and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck.

“Over 1,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured in just the first week after the breakdown of the ceasefire, the highest one-week death toll among children in Gaza in the past year.

‘Just a few days ago, the 25 bakeries supported by the World Food Programme during the ceasefire had to close due to flour and cooking gas shortages.

“The partially functional health system is overwhelmed. Essential medical and trauma supplies are rapidly running out, threatening to reverse hard-won progress in keeping the health system operational.

“The latest ceasefire allowed us to achieve in 60 days what bombs, obstruction and lootings prevented us from doing in 470 days of war: life-saving supplies reaching nearly every part of Gaza.

“While this offered a short respite, assertions that there is now enough food to feed all Palestinians in Gaza are far from the reality on the ground, and commodities are running extremely low.

“We are witnessing acts of war in Gaza that show an utter disregard for human life.

“New Israeli displacement orders have forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee yet again, with no safe place to go.

“No one is safe. At least 408 humanitarian workers, including over 280 from UNRWA, have been killed since October 2023.”