Arsenal rescued a late draw against Bayer Leverkusen after Kai Havertz struck an 89th-minute penalty to secure a 1–1 result in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash in Germany.
The match, played at the BayArena on Wednesday night, appeared to be heading toward a home victory after Bayer Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich gave the hosts the lead early in the second half. Andrich rose to head in a corner just after the restart, putting the Bundesliga side ahead in the 46th minute.
Arsenal had started brightly and nearly opened the scoring earlier in the first half when Gabriel Martinelli’s effort struck the crossbar. However, Mikel Arteta’s side struggled to convert their early dominance into goals and found themselves trailing for much of the contest.
The Premier League club eventually found a lifeline late in the match when substitute Noni Madueke drove into the Leverkusen penalty area and was judged to have been fouled by Malik Tillman. After a brief VAR check, the referee awarded a penalty to the visitors.
Havertz, who previously played for Leverkusen earlier in his career, calmly converted the spot-kick in the 89th minute to level the score at 1–1 and deny the German side a first-leg victory.
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The result ended Arsenal’s perfect run in this season’s Champions League but keeps the tie finely balanced ahead of the return leg in London.
The two teams will meet again at the Emirates Stadium next week for the decisive second leg, where a place in the quarter-finals will be at stake.
