{"id":543321,"date":"2026-03-17T23:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543321\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:29:08","slug":"eze-and-rice-pick-off-bayer-leverkusen-as-arsenal-cruise-into-quarter-finals-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543321\/","title":{"rendered":"Eze and Rice pick off Bayer Leverkusen as Arsenal cruise into quarter-finals | Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is there anyone who can stop \u00adArsenal in this kind of form? The Bayer \u00adLeverkusen goalkeeper, Janis \u00adBlaswich, tried his best in a specta\u00adcular first-half performance that kept the Premier League leaders at bay until Eberechi Eze smashed in his first Champions League<\/a> goal and Declan Rice completed a comfortable victory after the break to seal a third successive quarter\u2011final appearance.<\/p>\n

After yet another clinical performance in Europe yielded a ninth victory in 10 games this season, Mikel Arteta will certainly fancy Arsenal\u2019s chances of getting past Sporting in the last eight despite the Portuguese side\u2019s remarkable comeback against Bod\u00f8\/Glimt that spared them a trip to the Arctic Circle.<\/p>\n

However, after Max Dowman entered the history books<\/a> by becoming the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history at the weekend, this was an evening to savour for Eze. He is thriving in his first season playing in this competition after joining from Crystal Palace last summer for \u00a367.5m and a brilliant finish provided the breakthrough just when Blaswich\u2019s brilliance was threatening to frustrate the home supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s building a better chemistry, a better understanding with all of them. We start to understand him as well much better,\u201d said Arteta. \u201cWhen you start to make a good game, a good action, an action like that when you\u2019re in the game, that lifts your confidence as well. That\u2019s what every player needs. He\u2019s handling the pressure, the situation and the expectations very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eberechi Eze (centre) celebrates scoring his first Champions League goal with teammates including Declan Rice (second right) and Bukayo Saka (right). Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

With Dowman on the bench again after his milestone against Everton, there was a buzz of anticipation before kick-off and Arteta urged his players to use that momentum to their advantage. Kasper Hjulmand, the Bayer Leverkusen<\/a> manager, warned Arsenal that his side wasn\u2019t here just to make up the numbers after their impressive performance in the first leg.<\/p>\n

A spirited draw against Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich at the weekend further boosted their confidence, even if the bookmakers made them 11\/1 shots to progress to the last eight. \u201cWe\u2019ve come here to win this game,\u201d said Hjulmand. Leverkusen again settled into their rhythm quickly but, after a slow start, Arsenal soon found theirs.<\/p>\n

A couple of early corners came to nothing before they seized the initiative. Trossard tested Blaswich from just inside the area when he was picked out by Bukayo Saka before Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es should have opened the scoring when he nodded over from a corner. Blaswich had to punch away a goalbound Declan Rice free-kick before Saka could only direct a header straight at him. At the other end, Piero Hincapi\u00e9\u2019s last-ditch challenge denied Martin Terrier just as he was about to pull the trigger. A mix up between Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia almost gifted Saka a goal when they left the ball for each other but the England forward couldn\u2019t beat Blaswich at his near post. Somehow the Leverkusen goalkeeper managed to keep out Trossard\u2019s shot from Saka\u2019s cutback before pulling off another brilliant double save to deny the Belgium forward and then Ben White on the rebound.<\/p>\n

The latter really should have scored into an empty net but picked out the grateful Blaswich instead. However his good fortune didn\u2019t last much longer. The venom with which Eze struck the ball after taking a touch to control it and turn in the same movement meant there was nothing any goalkeeper could have done to stop it.<\/p>\n

He celebrated his landmark strike with the same calmness that greeted all five of his goals against arch-rivals Tottenham this season. Arsenal must have sensed an opportunity to put the tie beyond Leverkusen as they began the second half with similar intensity. The lively Trossard was inches away from doubling their lead with a curling effort that left Blaswich grasping at thin air before Viktor Gy\u00f6keres took aim from 25 yards and forced the 34-year-old into yet another save.<\/p>\n

Declan Rice is in between five Bayer Leverkusen players but steers his shot low and in off the post for Arsenal\u2019s second. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Hjulmand turned to his own exciting teenager, the 18-year-old winger Montrell Culbreath, in an attempt to find a way back into the tie. But Leverkusen needed former Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah to make an excellent clearance with Hincapi\u00e9 lurking at the back post after Gy\u00f6keres had combined with Saka down the right. The second goal that Arsenal craved came soon after when a clearance fell straight to Rice and he advanced a few strides before dispatching the ball into the net via a kiss off the post. \u201cBoring, boring Arsenal,\u201d sang the jubilant home supporters.<\/p>\n

That was the prompt for Arteta to ring the changes as Arsenal coasted to victory with the minimum of fuss despite David Raya\u2019s excellent late save to deny Christian Kofane. After his vital late penalty in the first leg, Kai Havertz saw another goal against his former club ruled out for handball. With the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday, if they can summon this spirit again the long wait for silverware could be coming to an end very soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is there anyone who can stop \u00adArsenal in this kind of form? The Bayer \u00adLeverkusen goalkeeper, Janis \u00adBlaswich,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-543321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}