JAKARTA - Arsenal defeated Bayer Leverkusen to face Sporting in the Champions League quarter-finals. Arsenal qualified after winning 2-0 over Leverkusen in the second leg of the 16th round at the Emirates Stadium, London, Wednesday, March 18, 2026 WIB.
Arsenal are keeping their hopes of winning four trophies or a quadruple in one season after advancing to the Champions League quarter-finals. Arsenal ensured their qualification after picking up a convincing victory in the second leg held at home.
The success of scoring two goals in the match made Arsenal ahead 3-1 on aggregate. In the first match at Leverkusen's home, Mikel Arteta's team did have some difficulties. In fact, they almost lost when former Leverkusen player Kai Havertz did not score from the penalty spot towards the end of the match.
Different from Arsenal's second appearance at home. They appeared confident and showed dominance over their opponents, especially after confirming their position at the top of the English Premier League standings by defeating Everton 2-0.
In that match, Arteta again included young player Max Dowman. Only the midfielder who is still 16 years old was not sent down by Arteta. Instead, Leandro Trossard returned to the starting lineup after recovering from a pelvic injury.
Even Trossard almost brought the Gunners ahead when he received a pass from Bukayo Saka. But his shot to the top corner of the goal was brilliantly thwarted by goalkeeper Janis Blaswich.
Not long after, Arsenal got another chance from a dead ball. This time from a corner kick by Saka and created a mess in front of Leverkusen's goal. As usual, this was Arsenal's chance to score. This scenario almost went smoothly when defender Gabriel Magalhaes' header didn't bounce over the crossbar.
Blaswich became a busy goalkeeper facing Arsenal's offensive attack. Especially when the hosts get a dead ball like when facing Declan Rice's free kick. Fortunately, he was able to thwart Arsenal's attempts to score from the dead ball. Next
Saka's shot from a narrow angle also did not produce results. Blaswich again showed his best ability when his foot reflex movement thwarted Trossard's chances.
Arsenal's next chance started again from a corner kick, again done by Saka. The ball greeted by Trossard could still be blocked by the goalkeeper, causing a rebound. Ben Whites wanted to maximize the opportunity, but it didn't work.
Time and again it always fails until finally Eberechi Eze manages to break the deadlock before the first half. It started with Eze's action controlling the ball from a pass from Trossard. From outside the penalty area, he fired a shot into the right corner of the goal that the goalkeeper failed to reach.
The goal in the 36th minute gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead. The score remained until the first half after no more goals were scored. Meanwhile, the team coached by Kasper Hjulmand was also unable to create an opportunity to equalize the score.
Entering the second half, Arsenal did not slow down the game. Their attack again threatened Leverkusen's defense through Piero Hincapie. The Ecuadorian center back, who was loaned from Leverkusen, almost broke his club's goal. Furthermore, striker Viktor Gyokeres almost increased Arsenal's lead.
When Arsenal were stuck, Rice finally managed to add a goal when the match entered the 63rd minute. It started with an attempt by the Leverkusen player to throw the ball into the middle of the field.
However, the ball was received by Rice who took it and then fired a hard shot into the goal without being saved by the goalkeeper.
The goal changed 2-0 for Arsenal. The score remained until the end of the match and Arsenal successfully eliminated Leverkusen to face Sporting Lisbon. The Portuguese club ended Bodo/Glimt's fairy tale by beating their opponents 5-0. The result gave Sporting a 5-3 aggregate lead because in the first match, they lost 3-0.
Arsenal themselves are still in with a chance of winning four trophies after edging closer to winning the Premier League as they are nine points clear of Manchester City.
They also advanced to the final of the English League Cup and will face Man City. In the FA Cup quarterfinal, they also only faced Championship division team Southampton. This makes Arsenal favored to qualify for the semifinals.
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