LEVERKUSEN, Germany — Bayer Leverkusen didn’t want Kai Havertz to come back after all. The 26-year-old was warmly applauded onto the pitch in recognition of his decade at the club — then promptly wrecked a memorable UEFA Champions League night by scoring Arsenal’s 89th-minute equalizer.
That penalty — awarded for a faint touch on Noni Madueke by Leverkusen’s Malik Tillman — secured a 1-1 draw that makes the Gunners firm favorites to progress to the quarterfinals for the third consecutive year.
It felt like a defining moment of the tie and a pivotal moment for Havertz, who before kickoff was presented with a framed picture featuring images from his days as a Leverkusen player. He had spoken a day earlier about the mental anguish that followed his recent injury setbacks, and about the fond memories of returning to a club he chose to leave home for at age 10.
The elongated wait to take his spot kick will have felt like an eternity. But Havertz kept his cool, stroked the ball past Leverkusen goalkeeper Janis Blaswich and salvaged a point that Arsenal barely deserved. Havertz now has three goals and two assists in 316 minutes since returning from his knee injury.
“Football is a funny game and it brings special stories and him coming back here after such a long time, being part of this club, to come here and score such an important goal, I think it’s a big moment,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
The performance that preceded it will do little to silence nagging doubts about this team’s ability to get over the line. It also somewhat undermined Arteta’s prematch assertion that his team had proved they belong alongside Europe’s elite after reaching the quarterfinals and semifinals in the past two seasons before winning all eight group-stage matches this term.
Arsenal were largely one-dimensional in possession, and Arteta had to shuffle the pack repeatedly. He introduced Madueke for the ineffective Bukayo Saka on the hour mark, Havertz for Viktor Gyökeres 14 minutes later, and finally Gabriel Jesus for Eberechi Eze in a bid to inject some dynamism into their attack. Madueke was the liveliest entrant, and Havertz capitalized.
Until then, after Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli hit the crossbar in a promising opening spell, Leverkusen had been full value for a surprising upset. The club’s social media team had some fun with Arsenal before the game, mocking up a post featuring a “no corners allowed” sign in reference to the visitors’ set piece prowess.
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How the home side will have enjoyed beating Arsenal at their own game as dead-ball routines combined to give them the lead. Leverkusen’s coordinated direct attack from kickoff at the start of the second half created the corner taken by Alejandro Grimaldo and converted at the back post by Robert Andrich. Arteta claimed afterward he had shown his players three clips of Leverkusen attacking in this style from kickoff, yet his players still weren’t alert to the danger.
Leverkusen boss Kasper Hjulmand and Arsenal set piece coach Nico Jover traded words on the sideline seconds later, having cast doubt over the legality of Arsenal’s physicality at corners in the buildup.
“I’m just questioning, is it actually in the rules that you can bodycheck and take players out without the ball? So [Jover] was just looking [and saying], ‘You do it too?’ Yeah, we are doing it too,” explained Hjulmand. “So it is the same for all teams, we are all doing it.”
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Arsenal had just three corners all evening and only one until the 79th minute as Leverkusen did a fine job of restricting their opportunities. Arteta’s body language revealed his frustration. He swiveled on his heels and swung his arm away from the pitch as Eze tried to find Martinelli midway through the first half. Eze was on the receiving end of a few choice words minutes later, before Arteta hit the top of the away dugout with his right hand as Arsenal struggled in possession once more.
“We had 10 to 15 minutes that we didn’t really have enough threat and enough understanding of how we have to attack that block, but in the last 20 to 25 minutes with the changes, I think it was much better, and at the end, we found a way to score the goal and to end the game,” said Arteta.
Hjulmand rued the penalty decision and claimed referees should not award marginal spot kicks, saying they should instead wait for a VAR intervention as close calls are rarely overturned once given.
Having escaped a chastening result, Arteta was able to frame this display in the context of a learning curve. “The level of execution obviously has to be better and it will be better in the second leg,” he said. “We’ll adapt a few things and yes, we’ll move on.
“[It is a reminder of] how difficult it is to win against any opponent in the competition and especially away from home. There is a big factor there. Then you realize what we’ve done to win eight games in this competition, because it’s so tough that nobody did it before.
“Fully aware of that, we knew the importance of the game and the difficulty of the opponent, and now we need to finish it in London.”
