{"id":310,"date":"2026-03-18T06:25:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=310"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:25:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:25:29","slug":"always-shine-on-the-biggest-stages-worth-every-penny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=310","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Always shine on the biggest stages&#8221;, &#8220;Worth every penny&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5140387\" data-slug-id=\"2753245\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Arsenal fans have hailed midfielder Eberechi Eze for his showing as they defeated Bayer Leverkusen in their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 meeting. The Gunners claimed a comfortable 2-0 win at the Emirates to go through to the last eight with a 3-1 aggregate scoreline. <\/p>\n<p>Eze kept his place in the starting line-up for Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side after captain Martin Odegaard was ruled out for a sixth successive game through injury. The Englishman has struggled at times this season, having only joined Arsenal from Crystal Palace last summer. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Arsenal had Eberechi Eze to thank for breaking down a resolute Bayer Leverkusen rearguard in the opening period, and the fans were appreciative of his effort. A number of the club&#8217;s fans took to X to praise the 27-year-old for his role in their win. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>One fan hailed the England international as a big player for shining on the biggest stages. <\/p>\n<p>Another fan declared that the midfielder was worth his full transfer fee, referring to him as a &#8216;monster&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>A fan urged Arteta to give Eze a proper run of games, seeing the form that he is showing in this period. <\/p>\n<p>Another fan praised him for his &#8216;top class&#8217; goal, likening him to Zinedine Zidane. <\/p>\n<p>A fan stated that Eze finds his best form in the Spring, naming him as the best player in this period. <\/p>\n<p>Eberechi Eze scored his first-ever UEFA Champions League goal for the club in his second knockout game in the competition. He created three chances in his 69 minutes of action, winning five of eight duels and making four ball recoveries before he departed the pitch.<\/p>\n<h2>Arsenal book Sporting meeting after impressive home win<\/h2>\n<p>Arsenal have booked a meeting with Portuguese outfit Sporting Club in the quarterfinals of this season&#8217;s UEFA Champions League. This comes on the back of a 2-0 win for the Gunners over Bayer Leverkusen at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. <\/p>\n<p>Arsenal began the game on the front foot but Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Janis Blaswich was proving impossible to beat until Eberechi Eze scored a stunner. The 27-year-old received a pass from Leandro Trossard and swivelled before unleashing a vicious volley that flew into the back of the net on 36 minutes. <\/p>\n<p>Bayer Leverkusen struggled to lay a glove on their hosts and conceded a second goal just after the hour mark to Declan Rice. The midfielder took advantage of a poor clearance to put his side 2-0 up, sealing a 3-1 aggregate win over two legs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Sulayman Salahudeen<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal fans have hailed midfielder Eberechi Eze for his showing as they defeated Bayer Leverkusen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}