Those of a certain age might remember a mid-90s Parsley advert in which a young lad channels his inner Linford Christie after having “Positive Mental Attitude” drilled into him by his dad. With the help of a freshly washed sports vest, he storms to victory in the school sack race before punching the air in triumph.
We’re not sure if Mikel Arteta has shown that clip to the players – he might have, given Persil are one of the club’s sponsors – but it certainly sounds like Declan Rice has been soaking up the positive vibes over the past 24 hours.
If Saturday’s League defeat to Bournemouth was frustrating, it seems to have been quickly filed away by a squad firmly focused on their date with destiny in Paris on Wednesday night.
After a nervy showing in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final with PSG, the Gunners know exactly what’s required: a win inside 90 minutes to keep the dream of reaching the final in Munich alive.
“You need to have full belief,” said Rice in Tuesday’s pre-game press conference.
“We certainly have that as a group. The manager certainly drills that into us every single day.
“I think if we’re the best versions of ourselves tomorrow night and we know we can be that, there’s no stopping us getting into that final.
“We really need to be positive. You can’t come into a semi-final away at Paris and not have that belief and courage that you’re going to come here and win the game. We’re ready and we’re looking forward to it.”
Rice has already lifted a European trophy, captaining West Ham to Conference League success in 2023 before making the move to Arsenal. He’s also familiar with the pressure of the big stage, having helped England reach the final of two consecutive European Championships — although on both occasions, they fell at the final hurdle.
“I’ve played so many games of football now,” he reflected.
“I’ve been obviously playing since I was 18 professionally and tomorrow night it’s just another game.
“It’s a semi-final of a Champions League but I don’t put too much pressure on myself. It’s us versus them and we obviously know what we have to do to get to the final.
“I’ve played in semi-finals before and I was required to get to finals and, hopefully, tomorrow night as a group we can pull through and we can achieve something really, really good and make it a really special night for this club.”
Rice earned widespread acclaim for his man-of-the-match performances against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, and he and his teammates will be leaning on that experience — particularly the composure shown in the second leg — when they step out at the Parc des Princes.
“I think we’ve showed we can do it. When we went to the Bernabeu the other week, there was a lot of questions on whether we could rise to that occasion.
“We obviously had a 3-0 lead, but there was still so much talk about them obviously coming back, and playing at the Bernabeu, and having not experienced that before. But as a group we handled that amazingly well.
-“Obviously the atmosphere tomorrow night is going to be incredible as well, but we’ve proved that we can handle big situations and tomorrow night’s another massive step for this team.
“We’re a young team but if we want to keep being one of the best teams and want to win stuff, we need to keep taking these massive steps.
“Tomorrow night’s a big step to take and we’re fully driven by the fact there’s a final 90 minutes away. We need to be ready.”
On the challenge he’s set himself, he added: “I’m confident that I’m going to play well and I’m going to help the team out and obviously for the next few years going forward, I just want to help this club.
“We were so close in the last few years to winning the Premier League. We are in the semi-final of the Champions League.
“The next step for us is to win trophies and I sense that we’re close, but to get over the line, you have to win that first one and then I feel like they’ll start coming in for sure.
“We have such a good group but we need to keep believing and being positive.”
A couple more free-kicks like the ones he scored against Real Madrid wouldn’t go amiss.
“The manager, he calls them magic moments,” reflected Rice.
“He always talks about them. Someone delivering a magic moment and I think in that game against Madrid obviously I was able to produce two free kicks which were incredible.
“But tomorrow night, a semi-final is set up for someone else to maybe get that magic moment.
“Hopefully it’s me again but you’re going to need a moment of magic to win a game and as a team we’re going to need that. Tomorrow night hopefully we can deliver something special.”
That old Persil advert might have been a bit cheesy, but the message still holds. In moments like these, belief matters.
Arsenal know exactly what’s required in Paris – and if the mood around Declan Rice is anything to go by, they’re heading into it with the right mindset.
