CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 

ARSENAL 2 (Eze 36, Rice 63)

BAYER LEVERKEUSEN 0

ARSENAL fans were treated tonight to another long term memory scarring goal, just four days after Max Dowman’s joyous solo run against Everton on Saturday.

Eberichi Eze’s outrageous half volley thunderbolt drew stunned gasps before celebratory roars – surely the sweetest strike ever seen at this stadium.

Taken on the turn and well outside the box, it pinged into into the top corner hitting the net before the goalkeeper had barely moved.

It came after a long spell of dominance and chances with no reward, thanks to a string of fine saves and unlucky goal mouth deflections, and when fans might have been starting to wonder if it was going to be one of those nights.

But no worry.  This Leverkeusen – despite looking a little dangerous going forward – were often in full panic mode in defensive midfield.

The visitors repeatedly gave the ball away, gifting chances that Arsenal’s forwards seized upon with glee.

It really should have been 3-0 at half time.

But Declan Rice ended the contest with a goal that on any other night would have grabbed the headlines.

He stormed through after taking a bouncing ball down well and calmly curled in a powerful side-footed finished into the bottom corner.

It capped another man of the match performance from player of the season in waiting.

Viktor Gyokeres was quietly exceptional, holding up the ball with strength but also showing some superb control and vision to keep the moves rolling.

He deserved a goal but his performance was hugely encouraging.

After the match, manager Mikel Arteta spoke about how “Ebz” was maturing and getting to grips with the complex rhythms of the Gunners attacks.

He said: “He is playing every three days now and he has the understanding of his teammates and what we want.

“I think we started the game so well. We were at it from every angle, their keeper maintained them in the game.

“We needed a magic moment from Ebz. In the second half we had more control and more chances.”

After a few months of uncertain performances, this was back to the style of play at the beginning of the season when fans could feel almost 100 percent confident that no stupid mistakes would creep in.

David Raya did have to pull off one of his showpiece saves at the end of the game, but even if they had scored you sensed the Gunners were going to see this out.

It was a fantastic atmosphere – perhaps due to a general cloud lifting after the Everton win and City’s collapse.

There is no bottling in sight and who knows how far this team is going to go in the next two months.

Eze’s outrageous blast wonderfully instinctive, so unlike anything seen at the Emirates under gritty Arteta.

He is a maverick who may frustrate at times, but who seems unafraid to go for something breath-taking.

Zubimendi was quietly brilliant tonight too, reading the game and scurrying about, playing precise forward passes and rolling his man to set up the breaks.

Ben White started and got a huge cheer when he was subbed off after a flawless hour linking up with Saka.

Both Gabriel and Saliba should really have scored from corners in the first half, but set pieces were not needed tonight.

Trossard also started and really should have scored twice in the first half, although one of the shots forced an exceptional save from Blaswich.

Beautiful goals have been few and far between in recent months, so tonight felt like a real treat.

Better still, the general style of football felt freer and hugely entertaining.

Bukayo Saka looked almost back to his best, but the attacking threat was from the brilliant Gyokeres – who now will face his former club in the quarters.

A tricky tie at Sporting Lisbon after they ended the Bodo dream – but next up it’s City in the Carabo Cup final at Wembley.

Arsenal: Raya, Hincapié, Gabriel, Saliba, White (Mosquera 69), Rice, Zubimendi, (Nørgaard 68), Trossard (Martinelli 69), Eze (Havertz 69), Saka, Gyökeres (Lewis-Skelly 90)
Subs not used: Kepa, Ranson, Calafiori, Dowman, Madueke, Jesus

Leverkeusen: Blaswich, Tapsoba, Andrich (Fernández 83), Quansah, Grimaldo, García, Palacios (Schick 70), Poku, (Culbreath 60), Maza, Terrier (Tillman 60), Kofane
Subs not used: Hofmann, Lomb, Oermann, Omlin, Tape