DECLAN RICE has broken his silence after fans noticed a suspicious brown stain on the back of his shorts.
The Gunners edged past Porto on penalties this week after a 1-1 aggregate score as David Raya proved to be the shoot-out hero.
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That secured their place in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years but supporters were raging when a Chelsea legend picked them out with Bayern Munich.
Arsenal host Bayern at Emirates Stadium, with no away fans allowed – and armchair fans will be forced to choose between watching that or Man City’s clash with Real Madrid.
However, since their nail-biting victory over Porto, one of the main talking points has been whether the nerves got too much for England midfielder Rice.
The conveniently placed brown mark on the back of his shorts left certain fans believing that he had “an accident” – like Gary Lineker famously did playing for the Three Lions at Italia 90.
However, during the latest episode of The Peter Crouch podcast, ex-Arsenal and Brighton midfielder Steve Sidwell left Rice a voice note live on the show to ask him to clean.
And it did not take long for Rice to respond and wipe away the rumours.
His voice note back to Sidwell was played on the show, and he said: “I’ve seen that circulating and it does look very suspicious.
“That’s because there is nothing else around the shorts other than that area.”
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Laughing, he then added: “I can confirm that there were no skidders, mate.
“So, I’m happy to assume it’s 100 per cent mud.
“I did fly into a few tackles and got myself in a few positions…
“So yeah mate, it definitely ain’t that.”
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