Declan Rice [Cristiano Mazzi/SPP]

DECLAN Rice gave us two more reasons to love him in the wild win against Real Madrid on Tuesday night, but there are many more.

One, for example, is that he doesn’t seem like he’s a bit of a word rhyming with stick.

If you watched his dazed post-match interview this week, there was no swagger or arrogance – he looked like a lad who couldn’t quite believe what he had done.

It’s refreshing to see a footballer take questions without looking like he doesn’t want to be there – so many Premier league players rush through every round as if they are wishing the media would zoom off, even though this is one of the few ways their doting fans can hear them speak.

When they are too old to run, they then ask the same channels they once had no time for if they can have a job as a well-paid pundit.

Does Rice symbolise a new polite respect in football? If he does, then maybe England finally has a genuine golden generation of good guys.

The last time the nation was promised a batch of world beaters we ended up with players more interested in the front pages than the back.

There would be the ones winding up Americans at airports on 9/11, the ones desperate to be the next Posh and Becks with ridiculous wedding pictures and the ones who betrayed teammates in the most personal ways.

Confidence is a great thing in the game but some of them acted like they were serial Ballon d’Or winners before ducking out of international competitions with deflating regularity.

We now know too that Jamie Carragher spits at people from his car door, while that nice Stephen Gerrard was happy to ignore every article about human rights to chase cash in Saudi Arabia.

Alan Shearer has similar shameful blind spots with the takeover at Newcastle.

I’d mention some Arsenal players, but they were too busy winning the World Cup for France – unlike our naughty Three Lions.

Rice, Saka, even Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham – the latter was very gracious this week after the 3-0 loss – seem like decent chaps.

Marcus Rashford stocks food banks and Ollie Watkins seems like he just loves playing football.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they all turned out to be great at life, as well as football?