Rice told reporters: "I think don’t underestimate to come from La Liga to come into this team.
"He’s not the biggest player or the strongest, but his brain, the way it works, allows the team to function in such a good way.
"He’s been unreal. He’s played so many minutes for us, the way he gets on the ball, obviously he’s Spain’s No.6 at the minute and rightly so, you see the quality he brings, the calmness, the composure, the way he thinks.
"It’s been great to play with him. I’m learning a lot and we’ve built a really good partnership, so long may that continue because we’re both young, we’re both fresh and we want to keep building that together."
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