A stunning goal from Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice’s long-range strike were enough to send us through to the last eight of the Champions League.
Eze smashed home a fierce right-footed effort from 20 yards out to give us a deserved lead in the first half – it was a goal that drew gasps from the Emirates Stadium faithful. Rice then crashed home low into the corner to make sure of the win just after the hour.
It sealed a 3-1 aggregate win, after last week’s draw in Germany, and means we can now look forward to facing Sporting in the quarter-final, the third season in a row we have reached this stage of the competition.
Early chances go begging
After a pre-match firework show, we set about dominating our opponents early on, and were playing with plenty of confidence in the opening 15 minutes.
Gabriel headed our first corner wide of the near post before Leandro Trossard dragged a low left-footed shot wide from 20 yards out.
Moments later Trossard did force a save from Jani Blaswich in the Leverkusen goal though. This time he caught hold of his shot much sweeter on his right foot, but the keeper clawed it away as it headed to the top corner.
Rice was the next to work Blaswich, with a drive from his free-kick out in a wide position between the penalty box and touchline.
The visiting keeper was by far the busiest player on the pitch though. Bukayo Saka drew a save at the near post before the German stopper made an excellent stop with his legs to keep out Trossard’s first-time low drive.
The Leverkusen goal was leading a charmed life, and Ben White was the next to go close after a goalmouth scramble.
Eze excellence
It was going to take something special to beat Blaswich – Eze duly supplied it. There seemed to be little on when our No. 10 received the ball, back to goal outside the area.
Eze took a touch on his left, swivelled and smashed home a screamer with his right foot that left the keeper grasping at thin air, as the ball flew beyond him into the net.
Eze celebrated the strike with a nonchalance that belied the genius Emirates Stadium had just witnessed. Indeed even his team-mates looked in awe of the strike – his first ever in the Champions League.
It meant we took a deserved lead into the break, after a first half in which we racked up 12 shots, seven of which were on target.
Rice rams it home
The second half started at a more sedate pace, with Trossard curling wide before Gyokeres saw a dangerous cross blocked near the goal line, then had a shot deflected wide.
Just after the hour mark though, Rice decided to take the initiative to get our second. He stepped forward from midfield to take control of a loose pass, and strode on before arrowing his low right footed shot just inside the post.
With the two-goal cushion, Mikel Arteta made a quadruple substitution. Within seconds, one of the replacements – Kai Havertz – had the ball in the net, but it was disallowed for handball.
There was still time for a remarkable David Raya save at full stretch to deny Christian Kofane,
But there’s no doubt we were good value for the win, we had racked up 21 attempts on goal, to continue our 100 per cent record at home in European football this season.
What’s next
We will face Sporting Club of Portugal in the Champions League quarter final after they came back to complete a 5-3 aggregate win over Bodo/Glimt. The first leg will be in Lisbon on either April 7/8 with the return at Emirates Stadium a week later.
Before that though we head to Wembley Stadium this Sunday for the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City, before the first international break of 2026.
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