Arsenal progress in Champions League as Chelsea and Man City bow out

EBERECHI EZE SCORED a stunning first Champions League goal as Arsenal beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 to march into the quarter-finals.

Eze opened his European account with a spectacular 20-yard thunderbolt before Declan Rice added a classy second to seal a 3-1 aggregate success.

Arsenal had found Leverkusen tricky opponents in Germany last week, needing a last-gasp Kai Havertz penalty to snatch a 1-1 draw.

But they were totally dominant at an Emirates Stadium still basking in the giddy elation of Max Dowman’s history-making goal against Everton on Saturday.

There was nothing ‘ugly’ or ‘boring’ about this win for the critics to moan about, either.

Mikel Arteta’s side swaggered their way into the last eight for the third successive year and, with Sporting Lisbon the opposition, they will fancy their chances of reaching another semi-final at least.

Elsewhere in London, Chelsea’s interest in the competition came to a sobering end as Paris St Germain won 3-0 at Stamford Bridge to dump the Blues out 8-2 on aggregate in the last 16.

It was a merciless display of clinical finishing from the holders as they built on last week’s pummelling in the Parc des Princes to send the home side to their joint-heaviest aggregate defeat in Europe.

As in the first leg, Liam Rosenior’s side were undone by their own careless mistakes and a moment of breathtaking PSG quality.

Mamadou Sarr, making his debut in the competition, made a horrible error after six minutes, failing to control a long punt forward and allowing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in to open the scoring. It was a costly blunder on only the defender’s fifth appearance since returning to the club.

If that all but ended the tie, there could be no doubting it after 14 minutes when Bradley Barcola was left alone on the edge of the box to flick the ball up and fire in an outrageous finish.

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It was a memorable goal but Chelsea had made things harder for themselves. Trevoh Chalobah was standing nowhere near Barcola when the ball arrived while Moises Caicedo had given possession away cheaply in midfield.

France under-21 international Senny Mayulu came off the bench and capped a wretched week for Chelsea with PSG’s third of the night, a lovely strike from the emerging 19-year-old midfielder.

Manchester City’s Champions League hopes were ended by Real Madrid yet again despite a determined comeback attempt at the Etihad Stadium.

Pep Guardiola’s side registered 22 shots at goal despite playing most of the second leg of their last-16 tie with 10 men as they sought to overturn a 3-0 aggregate deficit from last week’s loss at the Bernabeu.

Ultimately they went down to a battling 2-1 defeat on the night – meaning a crushing 5-1 reverse overall – after Vinicius Junior struck either side of an Erling Haaland equaliser.

City paid the price for the dismissal of captain Bernardo Silva for handling the Vinicius shot that led to his 22nd-minute opener from the penalty spot.

Haaland gave the hosts some hope but Vinicius, after missing several other chances, had the final word.

It was the fourth time in five seasons City had failed to get past the Spanish giants and, after such a spirited effort, they will rue last week’s first-half display all the more.

Finally, in the earlier game, Sporting Lisbon made an impressive comeback to hammer Norwegian giantkillers Bodo/Glimt 5-0 and reach the quarter-finals 5-3 on aggregate.

After a 3-0 last 16 first leg defeat last week north of the Arctic Circle, Sporting produced a ruthless display in Portugal to book a spot in the last eight for the first time since the 1982/83 season.

Bodo/Glimt have drawn admirers across the world for their superb performances in this season’s Champions League but once Goncalo Inacio opened the scoring, the Portuguese champions never looked back.

Pedro Goncalves and Luis Suarez netted to force extra-time and Maximiliano Araujo scored in the 92nd minute to put Sporting ahead for the first time in the tie, before Rafael Nel smashed home a fifth late on.