Arsenal 2-0 Bayer Leverkusen result (3-1 agg) – Gunners ease into UEFA Champions League quarter-finals thanks to Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal continued their march towards a memorable season finale as they brushed aside Bayer Leverkusen at the Emirates Stadium, with stunning strikes from Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice securing a 2-0 second leg victory.

The two teams had started the night tied 1-1 on aggregate but it was Arsenal who looked the more dangerous throughout the second leg in north London, with Leverkusen keeper Janis Blaswich making a string of excellent saves.

And there was nothing that Blaswich could do on 36 minutes when the ball sat up invitingly for Eze, who hammered a rocket of a shot into the top corner to open his Champions League account in serious style.

Arsenal held the visitors at arm’s length after taking the lead, and eased into a 3-1 aggregate advantage midway through the second half when Declan Rice showed his strength and intent to win the ball and carry it into a shooting position, before curling a gem of a shot into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 on the night.

Leverkusen threw what they could at Arsenal’s solid back-line and almost pulled one back late on, only to be denied by a superb David Raya stop.

But a 3-1 aggregate win was the deserved outcome on the balance of play and Arsenal will head into their quarter-final against Sporting CP as one of the favourites to win the competition outright.

"100% he'll be saying 'just stay humble, focused. You can achieve great things, and if you can be successful for the remaining part of the season, what you do now will be remembered forevermore. They could be a part of something special.'"

Our reporter Ibrahim Mustapha was at the Emirates to see Arsenal cruise into the quarters. Here’s how he ranked the performances of the home side:

Arsenal remain in all four competitions thanks to tonight’s result, and they can pick up their first piece of silverware at the weekend when they face City in the League Cup final.

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Eberechi Eze has had ups and downs in his first season at Arsenal, but his ups continue to be pretty spectacular, and his goal tonight was an absolute stunner. Here’s the Arsenal matchwinner, talking to TNT Sports:

"I don’t know if I could dream of scoring a goal like that. It was a good goal, I just saw the opportunity to shoot and thank you to God that’s worked today.

"I’m going to be watching this one for a long time to be fair.

It’s a difficult team to face, we saw that when we went there, and we knew it would take a moment like this to put the game in our favour."

So Arsenal are through to the quarter-finals in emphatic fashion, and it is Sporting who they will face in the last eight after the Portuguese side pulled off an outrageous comeback to knock Champions League giant-killers Bodo out of the competition.

The final whistle goes and the Champions League anthem reverberates around the Emirates as Mikel Arteta’s side march on in Europe.

There are just four minutes of added time and Arsenal are cruising now, with the quarter-finals in their grasp. They’ve been well worth the win too.

Lewis-Skelly makes a late appearance, replacing Gyokeres.

Arsenal have Raya to thank for maintaining their lead, as the stopper makes a brilliant fingertip save to deny Kofane. That looked almost certain to go in, but Raya was equal to it. What a keeper he’s turned out to be.

Here's how McCoist saw it: "That's their best move of the game by a distance. That’s a great save, he’s a little bit unsighted as well, David Raya, because it comes goal-side of the defender, but what a save, great save! But Leverkusen’s best move by a mile.

"[Raya] has been different class. A few people raised their eyebrows when he came, and I was one of them, but boy have I been proved wrong."

Leverkusen centre-forward Kofane hasn’t made much of an impact on the game and his optimistic effort from range slides well wide. Leverkusen are starting to look desperate, with time ticking away.

They’re giving this a good go, Leverkusen, and make an attacking change late on, with captain Andrich replaced by Fernandez.

A wonderful whipped cross is angled towards the head of Schick, and it takes an excellent defensive header from Gabriel to prevent a golden chance. Leverkusen are pushing, to be fair to them.

A Leverkusen cross is met by the head of Quansah in the box, but his glancing header floats wide of the far post. If we’re to see a comeback from the German visitors then they need a goal soon, with Arsenal looking full of confidence and increasingly comfortable.

Red shirts pour forward, outnumbering Leverkusen, but it’s not clinical enough and the final ball trickles through to the keeper. You feel like Arsenal on the break is where a third goal is most likely to come from, especially as Leverkusen push higher and higher for the comeback.

Arsenal make a right hash of defending a corner and the ball cannons off the knee of Saliba and over the bar. That could have gone anywhere!

It didn’t look like he was initially meant to come off, but Eze pulled up with a spot of what looked like cramp after that run forward moments ago, and Arteta gives him a rest. He’s been excellent tonight.