THIERRY HENRY has blamed Declan Rice for Bayern Munich’s equaliser against Arsenal.
The Gunners were held to a 2-2 draw in their Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
Bukayo Saka had given the hosts the lead before former Gunner Serge Gnabry levelled the tie.
The German winger fired past David Raya after being played through by Leon Goretzka.
However, Bayern were gifted the ball in the Arsenal half after a poor pass.
Arsenal legend Henry has suggested that Rice’s positioning was not good enough.
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He claimed that the midfielder should have been able to cut out the pass from Leroy Sane that found Goretzka before the goal.
He told CBS Sports: “The goal of Gnabry and what Declan Rice should have done at that particular moment, 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.
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“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.”
Arsenal then fell behind in the match as former Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane slotted home from a penalty.
Leandro Trossard equalised in the second half as the game finished 2-2 on the night.
There was more drama as Saka felt he should have had a penalty in the last seconds.
While Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel believes that his side should have had another spot-kick after Gabriel Magalhaes handled the ball.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
