{"id":518404,"date":"2026-03-12T04:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T04:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/518404\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T04:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T04:29:08","slug":"havertzs-late-penalty-on-return-to-leverkusen-rescues-first-leg-draw-for-arsenal-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/518404\/","title":{"rendered":"Havertz\u2019s late penalty on return to Leverkusen rescues first-leg draw for Arsenal | Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whoever runs Bayer Leverkusen\u2019s social media accounts obviously meant it as a joke. But even they could not have predicted that a cheeky post hours before kick\u2011off would almost end up being such a good omen for Kasper Hjulmand\u2019s side. \u201cNo corners allowed,\u201d it read in a clear dig at Arsenal\u2019s favoured modus operandi this season, before adding. \u201cWorth a try \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the plan seemed to be working for almost the entire cagey first half when neither side managed to muster a single corner until injury time. But everything changed at the start of the second half when Leverkusen\u2019s captain, Robert Andrich, headed home their second corner of the evening. \u201cWell, this is awkward,\u201d the Leverkusen social media team piped up.<\/p>\n

Suddenly Arsenal<\/a> found themselves behind and facing an unlikely defeat. Step forward Kai Havertz against his former club as the Germany forward came off the bench to score a controversial late equaliser from the penalty spot and save Arsenal\u2019s blushes.<\/p>\n

Best team in Europe? Certainly not on this evidence. After an unprecedented eight successive wins in the group stage, Arsenal had been expected to steamroller youthful opponents much-changed from the team that recorded an unbeaten Bundesliga season under Xabi Alonso. But until the introduction of Noni Madueke and Havertz they once again lacked creativity in attack and Mikel Arteta will be relieved to be heading into the second leg next week on level terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got caught out,\u201d the Arsenal manager said regarding Leverkusen\u2019s goal. \u201cThen we had to really dig in, because emotionally it became a very different challenge. The level of execution obviously has to be better. It will be better in the second leg. We\u2019ll adapt a few things and move on. \u201c<\/p>\n

Arsenal had William Saliba restored at the back alongside Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es. Neither enjoyed their best night, however, with the latter player making several particularly uncharacteristic mistakes.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideBod\u00f8\/Glimt eye quarter-finals after stunning SportingShow\"\"<\/p>\n

Another stellar display on their artificial home turf at the Aspmyra Stadion gave Norway\u2019s Bod\u00f8\/Glimt a 3-0 win over Sporting in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. The Portuguese side joined the long list of big-name European clubs that have made the journey to the little fishing town inside the Arctic Circle and came away empty-handed as Bod\u00f8 romped to an easy victory that puts them in the driving seat for a spot in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Luis Su\u00e1rez blazed an early chance over the bar for the visitors but after that the hosts took over, and went ahead just after the half-hour mark after Georgios Vagiannidis bundled over Sondre Brunstad Fet in the box. The midfielder confidently stroked home the penalty he had won to give his side the lead.<\/p>\n

The hosts were 2-0 up by the break, and though there was a slice of luck involved as Jens Petter Hauge\u2019s through ball deflected into the path of Ole Didrik Blomberg (pictured), there was nothing fortunate about his superb finish from a tight angle to double Bod\u00f8’s advantage.<\/p>\n

Sporting showed a glimmer of attacking intent to start the second half but it was quickly snuffed out, and the hosts should have gone three up in the 55th minute after the ball pinged around in the box before eventually going out of play, with the Bod\u00f8 defender Jostein Gundersen heading the resulting corner straight at the goalkeeper Rui Silva.<\/p>\n

In total control of the game, Bod\u00f8 grabbed the third goal their efforts deserved when the striker Kasper H\u00f8gh rounded off another fairytale effort, stealing between two defenders to deftly steer Hauge\u2019s low cross into the net from close range.<\/p>\n

The 3-0 win, Bod\u00f8\u2019s fifth straight victory in the competition, leaves Sporting with a mountain to climb in the second leg, which will take place in Lisbon on Tuesday. Reuters<\/p>\n

Photograph: Fredrik Varfjell\/NTB Scanpix<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Thankfully the incessant rain in the Rhineland cleared up just before kick-off, although the large amounts of water left behind made removing the Champions League<\/a> logo from the centre circle a much heavier task than usual.<\/p>\n

Andrich wasted no time making his presence felt when he hauled down Viktor Gy\u00f6keres on the edge of the Leverkusen penalty area after less than two minutes with a tackle that would not have looked out of place in the Six Nations. Somehow he escaped a second yellow card for another agricultural challenge on Gy\u00f6keres minutes later. It was to prove costly for Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Leverkusen, who saw off Olympiakos in the playoff round, tested David Raya in the eighth minute when Christian Kofane\u2019s effort went straight at the Arsenal goalkeeper. The physically impressive teenage Cameroon striker was almost through on goal moments later after managing somehow to outmuscle Gabriel and it required a desperate intervention from Declan Rice tracking back to stop him.<\/p>\n

David Raya is unable to keep out Robert Andrich\u2019s far-post header and Bayer Leverkusen take the lead. Photograph: Friedemann Vogel\/EPA<\/p>\n

Arsenal\u2019s first sight of goal came in the 20th minute when Gy\u00f6keres set up Gabriel Martinelli inside the area and he crashed a shot off the crossbar. Piero Hincapi\u00e9 was next to try his luck against the club he is on loan from until his move becomes permanent in the summer, but the Ecuador defender could only fire into Janis Blaswich\u2019s arms. Yet unlike at this stage last year when Arsenal thrashed PSV Eindhoven 7-1 in the away leg, Leverkusen were proving a much tougher nut to crack.<\/p>\n

Leverkusen came flying out the blocks in the second half and were ahead within two minutes of the restart. Raya did well to tip over Martin Terrier\u2019s header straight from kick-off but from the resulting corner the unmarked Andrich was able to head in at the far post after Ibrahim Maza blocked Eberechi Eze\u2019s vain attempt to stop him. \u201cIt\u2019s the same for all teams \u2013 we\u2019re all doing it,\u201d said the former Denmark manager Hjulmand, who was seen in deep conversation with Arsenal\u2019s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover after the goal.<\/p>\n

Arteta responded by withdrawing the captain, Bukayo Saka, for Madueke, with Arsenal duly earning their first corner of the match on the hour \u2013 even if it came to nothing. There was a huge cheer from the home supporters when Havertz replaced Gy\u00f6keres but the Germany forward and Gabriel Jesus could not get any change either out of a well\u2011organised Leverkusen defence.<\/p>\n

Jurri\u00ebn Timber headed over a Martinelli cross from close range with six minutes to play and at that point it looked like Arsenal would head into the second leg with a deficit. But a mazy run into the penalty area from Madueke drew a silly challenge from fellow substitute Malik Tillman, even if there was minimal contact. \u201cFor me it\u2019s not a penalty,\u201d Hjulmand said. Havertz duly dispatched the spot-kick to make it a memorable homecoming and leave Arsenal in pole position to reach the last eight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whoever runs Bayer Leverkusen\u2019s social media accounts obviously meant it as a joke. But even they could not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-518404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}