Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice both scored wonderful solo goals either side of half-time as Mikel Arteta’s team cruised through to the last eight with a 3-1 aggregate win over Kasper Hjulmand’s team after the 1-1 stalemate in Germany last week.
The Germans took the initiative early on and looked the side more likely to take the lead. Were it not for the outstanding defensive diligence of William Saliba, Christian Kofane would have given the away side the advantage when the former blocked the Leverkusen striker’s close-range header.
But the Gunners soon started to feel their way into the occasion. Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard all went close, testing Janis Blaswich as all three Arsenal players stung the palms of the Leverkusen goalkeeper.
The Premier League leaders were, at least for the first half an hour, guilty of several misplaced passes in their own half and some indecision further up the pitch, but a piece of individual brilliance from Eze laid those concerns to rest.
The Arsenal midfielder was afforded time and space as the Leverkusen defence backed off in anticipation of Eze bringing the ball down, but he controlled it on the turn before swivelling and smashing a volley past Blaswich from 25 yards.
The goal marks a return to form for Eze after a difficult winter period in his first season at Arsenal after joining from Crystal Palace. His brilliant strike, along with a double against Spurs a few weeks ago, takes his tally to eight goals in his debut campaign for the Gunners.
The Germans had chances to draw level on several occasions, but a lack of cutting edge in the final third was evident. Leverkusen’s performance at the Emirates Stadium drew parallels from Everton’s on Saturday: a lot of promise, but no final outcome.
Arsenal were relatively comfortable throughout the second half, although Christian Kofane’s athletic ability was on show for all to see as he repeated his form in the reverse fixture of being a nuisance to both Gabriel and William Saliba.
As the visitors sought an equaliser, the opportunities for Arsenal to break became more and more frequent.
Arteta’s side then doubled their lead in the 63rd minute thanks to a brilliant solo effort from Declan Rice. The England midfielder picked up an attempted Leverkusen clearance before powering towards the visitors’ box and curling his low shot into the bottom corner.
All but through to the quarter-finals, Arteta opted to reduce the risk of injury to key players and withdrew Martin Zubimendi, Eze and Leandro Trossard. With Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against fierce title rivals Manchester City in mind, they seemed simple decisions to make.
As measured and controlled as they have looked thus far in their Champions League exploits, Arsenal started to purr with slick passing and movement. David Raya alleviated the unwanted pressure of a pair of Leverkusen corners, and Rice broke away from an aggressive Leverkusen press.
Out of nothing late on, Raya pulled off another magnificent save to keep Arsenal’s clean sheet intact. The Spaniard’s leap across to the right with his body weight leaning to the left before sticking out an arm was enough to prevent Kofane from forcing a nervy ending.
It exemplified Raya’s incredible capacity to come up with match-saving stops and repel the forces in front of him.
It was as if the Gunners had forgotten their ‘Set-piece FC’ tagline, scoring two wonderful goals on the night to set up a quarter-final clash with Sporting Lisbon, who had earlier produced an astonishing performance to overturn a three-goal deficit at home to Bodo/Glimt and win 5-0 in extra time.
Arteta’s team will grace the Wembley arch on Sunday looking to win silverware for the first time since 2020. With the Gunners nine points clear at the top of the Premier League, through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a favourable route to the final and still in the mix for the FA Cup, who’s to say they can’t pull off something extraordinary this season?
Glory for Arteta and his players beckons, and this season, it finally feels as if it is their time.