How Jude Bellingham reacted to Declan Rice masterclass speaks volumes during Arsenal thrashing

proved their doubters wrong in tremendous fashion on Tuesday night as they thrashed European champions 3-0 in the Champions League quarter-final first-leg.

to put the Gunners 2-0 up before Mikel Merino continued his fine individual form against Los Blancos by adding a third.

Mikel Arteta's men were at their very best throughout the contest with their defence, without Gabriel Magalhaes, keeping Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior quiet throughout.

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Rice, who curled in a beautiful free-kick to open the scoring, netted one of the best goals of his career with a thumping free-kick into the top left corner. As the England midfielder ran off in celebrations with his teammates, the Amazon Prime Video cameras panned to Jude Bellingham in disbelief.

Bellingham, who partners Rice in midfield for England, was caught staring into the sky, possibly at the big screens in the corners at the Emirates Stadium, after watching his international teammate score two screamers.

The Real Madrid star, like the rest of his teammates, were so far from their best. Bellingham suffered the best of Bukayo Saka down the Gunners' right in hope of helping David Alaba and struggled to get on the ball to make an impact.

Tuesday night's emphatic victory gives Arsenal a huge advantage of qualifying for the semi-final of the Champions League. They will go to Madrid with a strong lead and task the European champions of overturning a 3-0 deficit.