Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice fired Arsenal into the Champions League quarter-finals in sensational style with stunning goals as the Gunners saw off a stubborn Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 at Emirates Stadium to seal a 3-1 aggregate victory over the Bundesliga outfit. Eze's thunderous first-half strike sent Mikel Arteta's on their way and Rice put the seal on the victory with an excellent second after the interval to set up a meeting with Sporting CP in the final eight.
Fresh from their dramatic win against Everton at the weekend, Arsenal were quick out of the blocks in the first half but were denied by a string of excellent saves by Janis Blaswich in the Leverkusen goal. There was nothing the visitors' keeper could do on 36 minutes, however, when Eze controlled Leandro Trossard's pass, turned and unleashed a sensational strike which flew into the top corner to break the deadlock and give Arsenal the aggregate lead.
The hosts had to wait until just after the hour mark to double their advantage, and when the goal came it was another superb strike, this time from Rice, who did well to bring down a looping ball, drive towards the edge of the box and then pick out the corner with a lovely curled effort on the run.
Leverkusen pushed forward late on as they looked to find a way back into the tie, but Christian Kofane's effort, which was somehow kept out by David Raya, was the closest they came as Arteta's side booked their spot in the quarter-finals.
GOAL rates Arsenal's players from the Emirates...