Kai Havertz’s 89th-minute penalty snatched a draw for Arsenal in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 away to Bayer Leverkusen.
Captain Robert Andrich had given Leverkusen the lead just after half-time, but Havertz came pack to haunt his old club from the spot.
Mikel Arteta’s Premier League leaders – who face Manchester City in the EFL Cup final next Sunday and are through to the FA Cup quarter-finals – struggled to break down their Bundesliga opponents, fashioning just 0.86 non-penalty expected goals (xG) but will head into next Tuesday’s second leg at the Emirates Stadium confident of progressing to the last eight.
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Arsenal had the first notable chance to take the lead, Gabriel Martinelli – the Gunners’ top scorer in this season’s Champions League with six goals – smashing his effort against the crossbar at the end of a slick back-to-front move which began with goalkeeper David Raya.
That, though, was as close as either side came to breaking the deadlock in the first half at the BayArena, a resolute Leverkusen showing why they’d kept three successive Champions League clean sheets.
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Clearly brimming with confidence from their first-half performance, Leverkusen came hurtling out of the traps after the restart – and they got their reward less than a minute into the second half.
Raya superbly tipped over Martin Terrier’s header, but from Grimaldo’s resulting corner, Andrich – who, having received the earliest booking in this season’s Champions League on two minutes, was arguably fortunate not to be sent off for bodychecking Gyokeres soon afterwards – leapt unmarked at the far post to nod the hosts in front.
From then on, Leverkusen were scarcely threatened – until Noni Madueke dangerously burst into the box and was brought down by Malik Tillman.
Havertz, off the bench against the club where he’s still held in such high regard, stepped up to take the penalty, stuttering then rolling it under Janis Blaswich – who guessed the right way but couldn’t get down to it.
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Arsenal’s 100% record in the 2025/26 Champions League is no more, but they’ll certainly back themselves to get the job done in 90 minutes on their own patch – as they’ve done on 18 occasions out of 22 this term.
Man of the Match: Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Lervkusen)
Leverkusen’s midfielder destroyer-in-chief, Exequiel Palacios was at the forefront of his team’s near total shutting-down of Arsenal.
The Argentine won six out of seven ground duels, as well as completing 60 out of 68 passes.
