Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Arsenal
by Layth Yousif 
from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

KAI HAVERTZ scored on his return to his former club with a dramatic 89th-minute penalty equaliser to silence the home support and salvage a creditable 1-1 draw for Arsenal at Bayer Leverkusen. 

Amid a raucous atmosphere Havertz showed nerves of steel to slot home the last-gasp spot-kick past keeper Janis Blaswich to ensure the Gunners maintained their unbeaten run in the Champions League this season, even if their 100 per cent winning record in the tournament had finally ended.

With moments remaining in front of a sellout crowd of 30,210 in the first leg of this R16 clash, Mikel Arteta’s side were handed a reprieve after Noni Madueke was adjudged to have been brought down by No 10 Malik Tillman, leaving hero Havertz - who spent 10 years at Leverkusen before moving to Chelsea for £71m in 2020 - to steer the ball past Blaswich’s despairing dive with his composed effort from the spot with sixty seconds remaining.

In a febrile atmosphere prodigal son Havertz levelled Robert Andrich’s 48th minute opener to ensure the Gunners remained on level terms heading into the second leg in North London in a week’s time. Remarkably, Andrich’s goal being the first time the Gunners had fallen behind in eight and a half matches during their European campaign, a run stretching back to September. 

Speaking after the match, Arteta hailed Havertz saying: “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.”

The Arsenal boss also praised Madueke for winning the late penalty, adding: “I’m not surprised at all because that’s his biggest quality.

“He’s very brave at doing that and he’s a real threat so to have a player with that ability when we need him and to step in in the manner that he did, big credit to him.”

Arteta opted for his strongest available XI against Leverkusen, after making 10 changes for the FA Cup win at Field Mill against Mansfield Town at the weekend.

Gabriel Martinelli, who had accumulated six goals in this competition, started on the left wing, while Piero Hincapie, on loan from Leverkusen started for the Gunners. As confirmed by Arteta, club captain Martin Odegaard was still absent with injury. 

Havertz, who returned to face his former club, was on the bench, with Viktor Gyokeres leading the line. 

It was nice to note the popular returning hero Havertz had been warmly welcomed by a raft of old faces on the touchline, as the former Leverkusen man headed out for the Arsenal warm up.

The hosts were unchanged from the weekend’s 3-3 draw with Freiburg, with Liverpool loanee Jarell Quansah starting as part of a back three. 

Arsenal’s 16 goals from corners in the Premier League has already equalled the all-time single-season record, still with three months of the campaign left to play - so no wonder the extraordinarily chippy official Bayer Leverkusen Twitter account had a predictable dig at the Gunners set piece prowess by posting an image with a sign on the turf in the manner of ‘no ball games’ but with the message: ‘no corners allowed’, with the line: ‘It was worth a try.’

As kick-off approached, the Leverkusen support lustily sang their club anthem. The club known as Die Werkself (‘The Workers’) pride themselves on their rousing “Die Werkself-Hymne,” with the rousing song of solidarity including the words ‘Siegel werder wit mit dir.’ (‘We will win with you…’).

With Leverkusen having lost all their previous six round of 16 ties in the Champions League, including last season’s exit at this stage to Bayern Munich, they certainly needed such vociferous support. 

Amid a cacophonous atmosphere referee Umut Meler awarded his first yellow card of the game with only 120 seconds elapsed, after Gyokeres spun Andrich, only for the 31-year-old German international to haul him back on the edge of the box, leaving the Turkish official no choice but to hand the Leverkusen No 8 the first booking of the game.

On 19 minutes Martinelli lashed the ball against the bar, before flying away to safety, following a spell of Arsenal possession.

As the relentless noise continued, just after the half hour mark, Leverkusen’s Alex Garcia fired narrowly wide with a curling effort that angled away from Raya. 

While Arsenal could be satisfied with the score at half time, Leverkusen knew that to have any chance in the second leg next week, they had to take a lead to north London, even if it was a slender advantage.

Buoyed after the restart, Martin Terrier immediately showed dogged persistence to unleash a stinging shot that looked destined for the Arsenal net, until Raya showed excellent footwork, athleticism and anticipation to tip the ball over the bar. 

Arteta’s side failed to heed the warning, and from Alejandro Grimaldo’s resulting corner, Andrich emphatically powered a header past Raya at the near post to make it 1-0 to Leverkusen - with barely 60 seconds gone in the second half, as the compact but well-appointed stadium erupted in red and black booming joy. 

It was also noticeable that Leverkusen boss Kasper Hjulmand and Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover immediately shared a wry joke over the fact the home side had scored one of their own against the dead ball kings. “You do it too, eh?” the latter said to his Leverkusen host, with the goal making it a mere dozen conceded across all competitions for the Gunners from a pre-planned situation. 

As the second half wore on, Arteta found himself deep in discussion with loyal lieutenant Gabriel Heinze on the touchline, the upshot being that Madueke was to replace the underwhelming Bukayo Saka on a rare off night, while former Leverkusen man Havertz entered the fray soon afterwards. 

Havertz received a warm welcome on his first return since leaving for Chelsea six years ago, when he replaced the ineffective Gyokeres with 15 minutes remaining. Yet there was no sentiment on the pitch, as the home side still went looking for a second to make things difficult for Arsenal. Garcia firing over to ruin a promising Leverkusen attack a minute later. 

However, just as the home support were about to celebrate a famous victory, up stepped ice cool Havertz to ruin their evening, after VAR checked Tillman’s slight touch on the Arsenal No 20. The equaliser meaning the Gunners have now scored seven goals through substitutes in the Champions League this season, more than any other side across Europe. 

Not that Arteta, Arsenal, and the tremendous travelling support cared a jot about the award of a soft penalty, as the joyous Gunners celebrated, leaving the home fans utterly crestfallen at having been denied at the last. 

Ahead of the second leg in London next week, Leverkusen have the unenviable task of attempting to beat runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich at the weekend if they are to improve on their current sixth place.

While any hopes Arteta may have had, in private at least, of resting key players in the second leg ahead of the League Cup final a week on Sunday - if Arsenal had posted a decisive victory in Germany - were completely dashed after an uninspiring laboured performance against Hjulmand’s spirited side.

And yet, as the dust settled, with four defeats and only two draws among the six Premier League sides’ R16 first leg results, maybe Arsenal’s away draw in northern Germany wasn’t bad at all given that context. Not least because the result made it a single defeat in the club’s last 25 games in all competitions, as well as remaining unbeaten in all cup matches this season. 

As Arteta noted ominously for Leverkusen: “The level of execution has to be better in the second leg. And it will be better in the second leg. We’ll adapt a few things, and, yes, we’ll move on.”