Gabriel Martinelli heads Arsenal into Rice-led PSG final plan
gabriel martinelli is not the focus of Arsenal’s plan in Budapest, but the discussion around the Champions League final has settled on Declan Rice as the player Gaizka Mendieta expects to swing it. The former Spain and Barcelona midfielder said Rice will be Arsenal’s most important man against Paris-Saint Germain, with the final set for this weekend.
Mendieta’s case is blunt. “Rice. I love how he controls the tempo and controls the game,” he said, adding that the midfielder is “huge on set pieces.” Arsenal saw that importance last year in both the Champions League and the Premier League, and Mendieta framed Rice as the type of leader who must step up when the stakes rise.
Rice and Arsenal in Budapest
Arsenal are already in Budapest preparing for the final against Paris-Saint Germain, and the match has drawn attention to whether Arteta’s side can manage the moments that decide elite games. Attention had also been on the full backs and their fitness to help nullify Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, but Mendieta pushed Rice to the front of the conversation.
“Obviously on set pieces he’s huge. We saw it last year, especially in the Champions League, and we saw it obviously in the Premier League,” he said. That evaluation gives Arsenal a clear reference point: Rice is not being valued only for control in open play, but for the repeatable actions that shape knockout matches.
Mendieta’s read on big games
“As a leader, he can be that player. I think in these kind of games, these kind of players who are leaders, you need them to step up,” Mendieta said. The line is pointed because it turns Rice from one of several Arsenal midfield options into the player Mendieta believes can set the tone in the final.
Mendieta made those remarks while speaking at Gatorade’s 5v5 global grassroots football initiative for teenagers aged 14 to 16. He also used the setting to speak about Arsenal’s wider direction, saying, “The word I have in my head is patience. It doesn’t exist in football. You have to trust the project, you have to trust the coach that you hired in the first place for the reasons you did.”
Arteta’s project under pressure
That view leaves Arsenal with a simple test in Budapest: Rice has to deliver the control, set-piece threat and leadership Mendieta singled out, because the final will reward the side that handles those details best. Arsenal had just lifted the Premier League trophy before the final, and the run now sits on whether the midfielder can be the player who settles the match when PSG force the tempo.
