Arsenal Avoid Defeat Against Leverkusen via Penalty Kai Havertz

Kai Havertz's penalty saved Arsenal from defeat and drew 1-1 against Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the Champions League 16th round. (X/@Arsenal)

JAKARTA - Kai Havertz's substitute saved Arsenal from defeat after scoring from the penalty spot ahead of the first leg of the Champions League 16th round after playing against Bayer Leverkusen. In the match at the BayArena Stadium, Thursday, March 12, 2026 early morning WIB, Arsenal forced a 1-1 draw.

Havertz started his professional career and rose to prominence at Leverkusen in 2016 to 2020. Havertz's charming performance at Leverkusen made him enter the German national team and then be recruited by Chelsea. Despite winning various trophies at Chelsea, this all-rounder has not shone at Stamford Bridge, which has made Havertz cross over to North London to join Arsenal.

Only this 26-year-old player has recently suffered more injuries, losing his place in the starting lineup. The arrival of Viktor Gyokeres makes Havertz more often sit on the bench when he has recovered.

Likewise when Arsenal visited Leverkusen's headquarters in the first leg of this 16-final. Leverkusen itself, which is currently ranked sixth in the German Bundesliga, has difficulty facing competition in the Champions League. In fact, they had to go through the playoff stage and get rid of Olympiacos to meet Arsenal.

The schedule in the knockout round puts Leverkusen at a disadvantage because they face an elite English Premier League team that is ambitious to win the league title for the first time after waiting for 22 years. However, in the first match at home, Leverkusen was able to trouble The Gunners.

Fortunately, Havertz came in to replace Gyokeres. When he was awarded a penalty after Noni Madueke was brought down in the penalty box, Havertz managed to convert it to change the score to 1-1. The goal in the 89th minute saved Mikel Arteta's team from defeat.

"I know we had a very difficult game here. And, we know what the expectations are for this game," said Havertz, who for the first time returned to his former club.

"It's just that we didn't show our best performance. However, we came home with good results. In the next match, we will perform to the fullest. Moreover, we have the support of the fans. This is important," he said again.

Yes, Arsenal's hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals are not yet extinguished because there is still a second match held at home at the Emirates Stadium, London, Wednesday, March 18, 2026 WIB. However, Leverkusen also has the opportunity to make a surprise by eliminating one of the favorites in the Champions League.

Defender Robert Andrich, who scored for Leverkusen, said the draw was a valuable asset when visiting Arsenal's home. "We showed that we can beat Arsenal. We will play away and are very confident of achieving something in London," said Andrich.

"If we are not [confident of winning], why are we going there," he said again.

In that match, Leverkusen really made it difficult for Arsenal who failed to perform optimally. The front line of the team under Mikel Arteta seemed to lose sharpness. Likewise, the dead balls that have been the mainstay for scoring goals and gaining points were not effective at all.

Leverkusen seemed to have anticipated how to deal with Arsenal's dead ball attack. It turns out that Arsenal actually got a free kick twice in just the first four minutes. However, this effort did not bear fruit. Gabriel Martinelli's chance also failed because his shot soared over the crossbar. The score remained scoreless until the first half ended.

In the second half, Leverkusen immediately attacked. Without giving the opponent the opportunity to develop the game, the team under Kasper Hjulmand tried to take the initiative to attack.

Starting from Martin Terrier's kick, only goalkeeper David Raya was able to parry it excellently and produce a corner kick. Next, Alex Grimaldo took a corner kick and led to Andrich. His header successfully broke through Raya's goal, giving Leverkusen a 1-0 lead in the 46th minute.

Only after taking the lead, Leverkusen chose to strengthen the defense which made Arsenal able to get out of the pressure. Only their attacks did not bear fruit. As a result, Arsenal players were frustrated because they could not score a goal.

When Arsenal had started to surrender, the Leverkusen player made a fatal mistake. In the 89th minute, substitute Malik Tillman committed a foul against Madueke.

The referee pointed to the white dot and Havertz, who was greeted by Leverkusen fans when he entered to replace Gyokeres, successfully completed the execution. However, Havertz refused to celebrate the goal as a tribute to his former club. The score changed to 1-1 and remained until the end of the match.