The expectation hangs heavy on the air here. You could sense it among those processing up to the ground in the early evening under a sublime azure sky. The cherry trees were in bloom on the Caledonian Road but it’s hard to take in the beauty when football hope hurts.
There was a hint in Leverkusen last week of the jeopardy this opposition posed and the Germans had been getting their digs in yesterday, just as they did back then. Leverkusen posted an image of a bucket of touchline paint and no white line where the corner should be taken. ‘That’s better!’ read the caption.
But the opposition had not reckoned on the man with the touch of brilliance in his yellow boots, pivoting around a ball he controlled with his left to send home a shot with his right which sent waves of relief washing down over this place.
It was Eberechi Eze’s intuition and spatial awareness which took the breath away in that moment. He did not even look up and take aim before powering the ball into the top corner.
Eze played it deadpan when he scored, holding out the Arsenal badge and pointing out his belief that a higher power was at play, yet the look on his face spoke of relief and a sense of belonging at last. It is easy to forget that he is playing his first season of Champions League football.
He still has his imperfections, conceding possession more than once when running with the ball at his feet, yet has that finishing power whose absence can feel like an Achilles heel for Arsenal.
He seems connected with the rhythm and system of the team in a way which we did not see as he struggled in the autumn.
Now he is recovering the ball high up the pitch and, on that, his manager Mikel Arteta said: ‘Without that he would never play in the team. He’s playing every three days now. He has a rhythm: his activity with the ball, without the ball, the way he moves. We understand him a lot better, too.’
It is fair to say that Arsenal firmly deconstructed the idea which has taken hold that their football is not a thing of beauty, with some wonderful interplay and a pace which had been missing in Leverkusen.
Eberechi Eze’s first Champions League goal helped Arsenal book a place in the quarter-finals
There was Bukayo Saka working in the small pockets to carve out two chances for Leandro Trossard. There was Martin Zubimendi, the sentinel, driving through the central areas to feed the advancing Piero Hincapie.
There was the old intuition snapping back in between Ben White and Saka, who have appeared in the same Arsenal side only twice this calendar year.
Gabriel’s two leaps to Saka’s corners — meeting one with his shoulder: the conventional Arsenal — were almost peripheral.
Leverkusen keeper Janis Blaswich was outstanding amid the first-half onslaught. ‘We had four or five situations where we should have scored,’ Arteta said — a familiar refrain.
Briefly, as Arsenal held that one-goal lead approaching the hour mark, the stadium stilled and the tension took hold again.
That was when the stellar player of this group stepped up. Declan Rice had a moment to compute his angles when accelerating to take on a stray ball with his outstep, and bend it around Robert Andrich with his instep.
Eze fired in on the half-volley from outside the box to give Arsenal the lead
Declan Rice doubled Arsenal’s advantage in the second half, bending an effort into the corner
The ball grazed the upright on its way in: a goal of beauty. All night, Rice looked to advance and join the attack. Should Arsenal lift the silverware they aspire to, he is a contender for the Ballon d’Or.
The Germans found more possession as the game wore on but Arsenal’s defence stood firm to progress to a quarter final against Sporting Lisbon. David Raya leapt to claw away Christian Kofane’s late strike.
Twenty years on from the heartbreak of defeat to Barcelona in the Paris final remembered for Jens Lehmann’s dismissal, this trophy is within Arsenal’s grasp.
But there is a more immediate benefit: the confidence this performance provides ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.
‘We’re the famous Arsenal FC and we’re going to Wembley,’ the Emirates faithful sang at the end, the anxiety dissipating for a short time at least.
