Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge clash after one Arsenal player blamed for PSG defeat

Yahoo

30-04-2025

Former England stars Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge disagreed on who was to blame for Ousmane Dembele's goal against Arsenal.
After sending defending champions Real Madrid packing in the quarter-final, Arsenal arrived at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night looking to gain an advantage on Paris Saint Germain.
However, the first leg was won by the French giants after Dembele converted Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's cut back in the fourth minute to seal a 1-0 victory for Luis Enrique's men.
As a result, Mikel Arteta's side will have to score at least once at the Parc des Princes next week if they are to reach the final of the Champions League.
Speaking after the match, Rooney, who was a pundit on Amazon Prime's coverage of the clash, pointed the finger at Declan Rice when analysing Dembele's winning goal.
He explained: "This is a really good pass, breaks the lines and then Dembele gets the ball, gets driving at the Arsenal defence and then plays it out wide.
"Now Arsenal have enough time to recover and Declan Rice just makes the wrong decision. He comes in, he thinks he is trying to cover his teammate but by leaving that space at the edge of the box, that's where the danger is, that's where Dembele is."
Rooney continued: "It's in the quarter-final, semi-final, final of the Champions League, the details of what you're talking about, that's what wins or loses you the competition and today Arsenal just didn't get a lot of the details right and that's what cost them the game."
WHAT A STRIKE FROM OUSMANE DEMBELE 💥PSG go ahead quickly at the Emirates thanks to the Frenchman's goal#UCLonPrime pic.twitter.com/hZe3vSLIhO
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 29, 2025
However, fellow pundit Sturridge opted to place the blame on Mikel Merino instead.
The former Liverpool man said: "I don't look at that goal and say it's Declan Rice's fault.
"On the other side, Merino makes a defensive run back, he ran into a position, he doesn't run towards the ball. He makes the run back, if you look where Dembele is now…Merino is tracking back to the penalty spot, he's not gone towards the ball to effect what's going to happen. The cut-back is there."
Sturridge added: "Rice is going over to help, so if my mate is going over to help in the other position, he's (Merino) just worried about getting back into position, he's not worried about where the ball can be played."