{"id":4573,"date":"2026-05-06T02:18:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=4573"},"modified":"2026-05-06T02:18:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:18:59","slug":"declan-rice-takes-swipe-at-chelsea-after-arsenal-reach-champions-league-final-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=4573","title":{"rendered":"Declan Rice takes swipe at Chelsea after Arsenal reach Champions League final | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"476\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274699534.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28249861\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Atletico de Madrid - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Semi Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Declan Rice after Arsenal\u2019s win over Atletico Madrid (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Declan Rice recalled how Chelsea \u2018didn\u2019t give him a chance\u2019 as he paid tribute to his former club West Ham after Arsenal reached the Champions League final.<\/p>\n<p>Mikel Arteta\u2019s Premier League leaders became the first team to book their place in the Champions League final as they beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 on aggregate.<\/p>\n<p>The semi-final tie was finely poised after a 1-1 draw in the Spanish capital last week and Bukayo Saka poked home the decisive goal at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal were beaten by eventual winners PSG in the semi-finals but have gone at least one better this season to reach their first Champions League final since 2006.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners, who are on for an incredible double as they also chase a first Premier League title in 22 years, will face either PSG or Bayern Munich in the May 30 final in Budapest.<\/p>\n<p>Next up for Arsenal, though, is a crucial Premier League game against Rice\u2019s former club West Ham, who are fighting hard to avoid relegation.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about his mindset ahead of that game, Rice insisted he would not be where he is today without West Ham after being released by Chelsea\u2019s academy at the age of 14.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"390\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176285.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28249971\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Atletico de Madrid - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Semi Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Arsenal booked their place in the Champions League final (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rice does not intend to do the Hammers any favours, however, and says he is desperate to help Arsenal clinch a long-awaited Premier League title before attentions turn to the Champions League final.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018That club gave me everything, without West Ham\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no me,\u2019 Rice told Prime Video after Arsenal\u2019s victory over Atletico Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I honestly believe that. They gave me a chance when Chelsea\u00a0didn\u2019t. A lot of people there really pushed me on so it\u2019s\u00a0not nice to see the position\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0in.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2187594977.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28249983\" alt=\"West Ham United FC v Arsenal FC - Premier League\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Arsenal face Rice\u2019s former club West Ham on Sunday (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018But\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0football and\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0got a job to do on Sunday.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0trying to win a Premier League\u00a0title,\u00a0we want to win every\u00a0game\u00a0and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0sure they will want to as well so let the best team win.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The full-time whistle was met by jubilant scenes inside the Emirates Stadium and Rice revealed the celebrations continued in the dressing room.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It is chaos in there,\u2019 the England midfielder added. \u2018I don\u2019t think you can underestimate what we have done in this competition up to this point.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176065.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28249985\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Atletico de Madrid - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Semi Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Diego Simeone\u2019s Atletico Madrid fell short (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018I think we have every right to celebrate that moment. The most prestigious competition in club football. We are just trying to soak it all in.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We knew coming into the game what was at stake. If you can\u2019t get up for that, then you can\u2019t get up for any game of football.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018When we went 1-0 up, I knew we were going to win. I could feel something special building.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Where this club has come from over the last few years \u2013 things that hurt you as a player. The manager has taken full control.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We have kept building \u2013 we have kept pushing each other. This competition and the Premier League. We have gone full throttle.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We have found ourselves in a good position with less than a month to go. Sunday now is a massive one.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The other Champions League semi-final is finely poised after PSG beat Bayern Munich 5-4 in their home leg last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on <meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/><br \/>\n<strong>Facebook, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metro_Sport\">Twitter<\/a> and\u00a0Instagram<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Alan Shearer singles out \u2018exceptional\u2019 Arsenal star after Atletico Madrid win<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Xavi\u2019s stance on becoming Chelsea manager revealed<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Peter Schmeichel urges Manchester United to sign \u00a317m former Arsenal star<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\">\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Declan Rice after Arsenal\u2019s win over Atletico Madrid (Picture: Getty) Declan Rice recalled how Chelsea&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}