Late Havertz Penalty Earns Arsenal Draw Against Leverkusen in Champions League

Arsenal F.C. rescued a late draw against Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash, with Kai Havertz converting a late penalty to cancel out the German side’s opener.

The match at the BayArena saw Leverkusen take the lead from a set-piece in the second half. Captain Robert Andrich headed home from an Alex Grimaldo corner after being left unmarked at the back post.

Earlier, Leverkusen had almost scored moments after the restart when Martin Terrier’s header forced David Raya into a crucial save.

The goal marked the first time Arsenal had fallen behind in this season’s Champions League campaign.

The set-piece strike also sparked a brief exchange between Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover and Leverkusen manager Kasper Hjulmand, after the German side executed a corner routine similar to those often used by the Gunners.

Hjulmand later explained that his earlier comments about Arsenal’s use of physical blocking during set-pieces had been misunderstood.

“We also use offensive blocks to create space,” he said. “I was simply questioning whether body checks to move players out of the way are within the rules. Jover said, ‘You do it too, eh?’ and in truth it’s something many teams do.”

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta expressed disappointment at conceding from a set-piece, particularly after preparing his players with video analysis of Leverkusen’s routines.

“We showed the players three clips of similar situations, but we still got caught,” he said.

Arsenal pushed for an equaliser late in the game and were awarded a penalty when substitute Noni Madueke went down under pressure from Malik Tillman inside the box.

Havertz, who previously spent a decade at Leverkusen before joining Chelsea F.C. in 2020, kept his composure to convert from the spot in the 89th minute.

The result leaves the tie finely balanced ahead of the decisive second leg at the Emirates Stadium in London next week.