Arsenal ace Declan Rice breaks silence on Bayern Munich defeat and it speaks volumes

Declan Rice has been one of the first Arsenal players to post a message to fans after the club's Champions League exit to Bayern Munich.

The Gunners had reached the last-eight of the Champions League for the first time in a decade but were undone 3-2 over two legs by Bayern. The competition knockout means that the Premier League is Mikel Arteta’s last chance for another trophy this season, having lifted the Community Shield back in August.

Wednesday's defeat will have stung given the team’s frustrating performance but focus must quickly return to the Premier League with Arsenal having to now play catch-up to two-point leaders Manchester City, who also exited the Champions League this week after losing to Real Madrid on penalties.

However, the Gunners will have let themselves stew over their result for a little while before resetting, with the European exit hard to stomach. In fact, Rice was one of the first players to break his silence on social media, delivering a message to fans on Thursday night almost a day after the final whistle in Munich.

He wrote: “Absolutely gutted. Wasn’t our night but we will be back. Onto a massive Saturday. Thank you for the support, Gunners.”

Martin Odegaard also took to Instagram, saying: “Tough one to take for all of us… But we still have something beautiful to fight for. Let’s lift each other up and we go again. Thanks for all the messages and all your support. Means a lot.”

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The result has clearly hurt the Arsenal squad, who suffered a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa last Sunday. However, they will need to respond against a Wolves side on Saturday that has had a full week’s rest.

A win could actually see Arsenal take top spot again with Man City not playing in the Premier League this weekend due to their FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea.

Fellow title challengers Liverpool, who were dumped out of the Europa League on Thursday, travel to Fulham on Sunday.