The Bundesliga outfit had almost stunned the current Premier League leaders in Germany, leading 1-0 going into the last minute before their former player Kai Havertz equalised from the penalty spot.
It was a lifeline that the Gunners scarcely deserved, but one which undoubtedly handed them the advantage ahead of the return at the Emirates Stadium.
Unbeatable at home
The first goal in the second leg was clearly going to be crucial for either side, and with the hosts having scored in each of their nine UCL matches beforehand, Mikel Arteta would've been confident that run would continue.
Indeed, at the Emirates alone in this season's competition, they'd conceded only three goals in four games, whilst scoring 12 of their own and earning all 12 points available.
Kasper Hjulmand's side - unchanged from the first leg - had only lost once away in the UCL during 2025/26, drawing another game and winning three more, so they certainly couldn't be discounted either.
An early onslaught from the Gunners
Arteta's big call was to leave out his top scorer in this season's UCL, Gabriel Martinelli. With Jurrien Timber injured, the Arsenal manager made two changes to his starting XI from the previous week, with Ben White and Leandro Trossard coming in.
The Belgian quickly justified his place, going close on a couple of occasions in the opening 15 minutes. With Gabriel Magalhaes also worrying the visitors' defence in the early stages, the momentum was with an Arsenal side that had seen Bukayo Saka set up all three chances.
The onslaught was relentless as not only did the Gunners have a collective 70% possession leading into the half hour mark, but Saka (x2), Trossard, Gabriel, Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze all had attempts at goal.
Two more chances came and went before Edmond Tapsoba finally had Leverkusen's first attempt on target with a decent header.
Eze's missile leaves colleagues in disbelief
Just minutes later, however, Eze fired a shot so powerfully that visiting keeper Janis Blaswich was still in mid air as the ball hit the net.
A first-ever goal in the competition doesn't get much better than that, and the writing was on the wall for Leverkusen at that point, as they'd failed to win any UCL game in 25/26 in which they'd conceded the first goal.
It's not as if Hjulmand could chastise his playing staff either, as they were adept at keeping the ball when in possession. Exequiel Palacios 97.8% pass completion was a feature of their play, with the real issue being the difficulty in actually getting the ball off Arsenal in the first place.
Eze and Saka winning back possession on 10 separate occasions between them, the former also winning six of his eight one-on-one duels, Gabriel doing even better by winning nine of his 10, and also three of his four aerial duels... this was a Gunners XI that was really fired up on the night.
Grimaldo kept under lock and key
Throughout the team, each player was putting in a proper shift, with William Saliba's seven clearances and Declan Rice's three interceptions being part of the reason that Leverkusen were unable to build up a head of steam.
Even when dangerman Alejandro Grimaldo got into the Arsenal box, where he had the most touches for the visitors (six), he was unable to get a single shot away in the entire 90+ minutes.
Although Leverkusen managed to take the game to the Gunners in the 15 minutes immediately after half-time, they couldn't make their 67% possession count.
In fact, during that period, it was still the North Londoners in the ascendancy in terms of efforts at goal.
Rice ends the game as a contest
With 16 total attempts at the hour mark, it appeared to be only a matter of time before someone added to the scoreline, and sure enough, Rice took advantage of some lax defending to waltz onto a poor clearance and bury the ball in the corner, well out of Blaswich's reach, giving him his first UCL goal since that famous night last April against Real Madrid.
Though there was still just shy of half an hour of normal time left to play, that goal knocked the stuffing out of the Germans, and only Christian Kofane was offering anything in attack for Leverkusen.
The noticeable shift in the visitors' body language prompted Arteta to make a raft of substitutions, though it made little difference to the ebb and flow of the match with Blaswich going on to make 10 saves in the game - the first time a goalkeeper has made at least 10 saves in a UCL match since Nikita Haikin for Bodo/Glimt against Juventus on 25th November 2025 (12 saves).
A couple of cursory late efforts from Leverkusen aside, the Gunners eased through the final minutes of the game, extending their Champions League scoring streak to 10 games, and meaning that they still haven't been shut out yet in the competition this season.
