Gunners keep quadruple hopes alive as two England stars secure victory
Arsenal swept into the Champions League quarter-finals with a commanding 2-0 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening, completing a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Mikel Arteta’s side produced a performance full of confidence and quality, with strikes from England internationals Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice proving too much for the German visitors.
The Gunners have now reached the last eight of Europe’s premier club competition for a third consecutive season.
Leverkusen, who had held Bayern Munich to a draw just three days earlier, were outclassed throughout and never looked capable of overturning the tie.
The breakthrough arrived 10 minutes before the interval.
Eze collected a pass from Leandro Trossard on the edge of the penalty area.
Using his left foot to bring the ball under control, he spun and unleashed a right-footed strike from 20 yards.
The effort flew past Janis Blaswich and nestled in the top corner.
Arsenal swept into the Champions League quarter-finals with a commanding 2-0 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen at the Emirates Stadium
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The strike marked the midfielder’s first goal in the Champions League.
Prior to that moment, Blaswich had been in excellent form.
He had produced several fine stops to deny Trossard, Bukayo Saka and Ben White as Arsenal laid siege to the Leverkusen goal.
Arsenal extended their advantage shortly after the hour mark when Rice capitalised on a poor clearance from the Leverkusen defence.
Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice proved too much for the German visitors
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The England midfielder advanced towards goal before calmly slotting the ball into the bottom corner, effectively ending any hopes of a German comeback.
Viktor Gyökeres, the Swedish striker, worked tirelessly throughout the contest, keeping the opposition defenders occupied even though he lacked the technical brilliance of his teammates.
When Leverkusen threatened late in the match, goalkeeper David Raya produced an excellent stop to prevent Christian Kofane from grabbing a consolation goal, ensuring Arsenal completed a statement victory.
Sporting Lisbon now await in the quarter-finals after the Portuguese side mounted a remarkable recovery against Bodø/Glimt, overturning a three-goal deficit to progress.
Eberechi Eze’s strike marked the midfielder’s first goal in the Champions League
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The victory tastes even sweeter for Arsenal given that both Chelsea and Manchester City were eliminated from the competition on Tuesday, failing to rescue their respective ties in home second legs.
With a nine-point advantage at the top of the Premier League, a Carabao Cup final against City at Wembley on Sunday, and an FA Cup quarter-final at Southampton still to come, the prospect of an unprecedented quadruple grows ever more realistic.
Arteta was able to rest key players once the result was secured.
Arsenal now turn their attention to Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.
