Thierry Henry blames Declan Rice for Bayern Munich’s opener at the Emirates

[Oyedibu Fikayo Odunayo]

Thierry Henry blames Declan Rice for Bayern Munich’s opener at the Emirates
Thierry Henry believes that Declan Rice shoulders the blame for the concession of Arsenal’s first goal in their 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.

Mikel Arteta’s side were held at the Emirates in the Champions League quarter-final first-leg, as goals from Serge Gnabry and Harry Kane cancelled out that of Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard.

The Gunners had taken the lead after Saka’s pinpoint finish but were soon pegged back after a rare mix up at the back.

David Raya found himself out of position after he and Gabriel attempted to deal with a long ball but after the Brazilian’s loose pass gifted possession Bayern, the Arsenal backline was exposed.

Henry reckons that Rice, who advanced to close down the space afforded to Leroy Sane on the ball, should have held his position, which would have made it harder for the winger to find Leon Goretzka, who in turn laid on a superb pass for Gnabry to finish.

The goal of Gnabry and what Declan Rice should have done at that particular moment,’ the Gunners legend told CBS Sports. ‘Because you’re the police officer and a mistake happened, you have to rectify it.

‘More often than not he does it, but he didn’t do it tonight.

‘We talk about the goalkeeper coming, we talk about the back pass, but look at the distance between the two centre-backs, and I know at that particular moment it doesn’t look like that you’re going to be in trouble.

‘At that moment, you cannot make the three steps he’s going to make.

‘Leroy Sane wasn’t born yesterday, you make those three steps, Goretzka sees it and runs in behind because look at the gap between Gabriel and Saliba, and you have a man [Gnabry] running.

‘If he [Rice] stays and sees the guys all in front of him, nothing happens.

‘But as you know, when you lose the ball, you tend to want to go [to close down] because he thought it was going to be a short pass.

‘But he’s [Sane] clever, he’s [Goretzka] clever, and on that one you are not.’

The home side then fell behind to Kane’s confident penalty but they were able to draw level when substitutes Jesus and Trossard combined in the 76th minute.

In an eventful encounter, Arsenal felt they should have had a stoppage-time penalty when Manuel Neuer appeared to foul Saka in the area.

Bayern were also left incensed by a no-call from the officials after Gabriel handled the ball in the box to retake a goal kick, despite the referee blowing his whistle to begin play.