Mikel Arteta does not deal in hyperbole easily. So when he described Eberechi Eze's 20-yard screamer against Bayer Leverkusen as a "magical moment," the Emirates Stadium knew exactly what they had witnessed.


Arsenal are in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2010. A dominant 2-0 second-leg victory, 3-1 on aggregate, saw Leverkusen — who had been so impressive in the first leg — completely dismantled on a rocking night in north London. Eze's thunderous first-half strike set the tone. Declan Rice's second-half finish sealed it. The German side barely had a sniff.


Arteta was expansive in his post-match press conference, singling out Eze — a £67.5 million summer signing from Crystal Palace — for particular praise. "We needed a magical moment from Ebs to score a wonderful goal," he said. "I think he's playing every three days now. He has the rhythm, he has the understanding with his teammates, what we want. His level of activity with the ball, without the ball, in the spaces that he moves — the purpose that he's showing every time he's in and around the box — which is the reason why he's here, to create those kind of moments. He's handling the pressure, the situation and the expectations very well."


Rice was equally effusive about his new teammate, calling him "frightening" in front of goal. Declan described the atmosphere as "one of the best nights I've been involved in" — a sentiment shared by the 60,000 fans who created a wall of noise that Leverkusen simply could not cope with.


The draw on Friday will determine Arsenal's quarter-final opponents. Based on Tuesday's results, they have already been confirmed to face Sporting CP — the Portuguese side who produced one of the nights of the tournament with a stunning 5-0 comeback win over Bodø/Glimt. For Arsenal, it is a manageable draw on paper. For Sporting, arriving at the Emirates will be an entirely different proposition.