Saka scored at the end of the first half at Emirates Stadium, where the Gunners saw out a 1-0 win, sealing their place in the final of the competition for the first time since 2006 thanks to a 2-1 aggregate victory.

Rice made his 400th club appearance in all competitions (245 for West Ham, 155 for Arsenal) and was dominant in midfield.

Only William Saliba (77) had more touches than Rice (75) for either side, while the England international completed a game-high 56 passes and won five of his seven duels.

The atmosphere at the Emirates was boisterous, and Rice had no fear once Arsenal hit the front.

"It's chaos [in the dressing room]," he told Amazon Prime.

"I don't think you can underestimate what we’ve done in this competition up to this point. We have every right to celebrate that moment, it's such a big moment, a Champions League final, the most prestigious tournament in club football. We're trying to soak it all in.

"We knew coming in what was at stake. If you can't get up for that, you can't get up for any game of football. The fans spurred us on and once we went 1-0 up, I knew we were going to win, I just felt it. Once you feel something special building, it's such a good moment to be out here."

Arsenal equalled its club record for most wins in a single season (41 across all competitions), previously winning 41 in the 1970-1971 campaign.

And it has been a fantastic 24 hours for Mikel Arteta's team, which saw Manchester City drop points in the Premier League title race.

The Gunners now know three wins will secure them the top-flight title, before they then switch focus to beating either Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich in Budapest on 30 May.

It is a far cry from the doom and gloom that seemed to engulf Arsenal after its losses to Bournemouth and Man City last month.

"What we've been building – those narrow losses in the Premier League, going out of cup competitions, things that hurt you as a player," Rice said.

"The manager kept full control. We've kept building, kept adding quality to the squad, we've kept pushing each other, in this competition and the Premier League, we've gone full throttle and we find ourselves in this competition with a month to go.

"So it's all to play for, we've got to stay composed and focused.

"I know what this team's capable of. After that Man City game, it wasn't a title-defining game – it wasn't done. It wasn't a moment to be down, we had to realise there were still five games [left], we had to keep pushing."

Arsenal kept a clean sheet for the 30th time across all competitions this season, with this its most in a single campaign since 1993-94 and most by a Premier League team since Liverpool in 2021-22.

They are now on their longest ever unbeaten run in the European Cup/Champions League (14 games), overtaking their 13-game run between March 2005 and April 2006.

"It's an amazing night, to live these moments is an incredible feeling," Arteta said.

"It makes it all make sense, all the things we go through. It was unbelievable right from the beginning [from the supporters], the energy, the passion, it was great to witness. They set the standards and we tried to catch up with them. 

"Those are the twists and turns of elite sport and football in particular. You have to be at it, you never know what the next moment is going to bring to you."

Arteta will be the second-youngest manager to lead Arsenal in a major European final (44 years and 65 days), after Terry Neill in the 1980 Cup Winners' Cup (38 years, 6 days).