Late Havertz penalty snatches draw for Arsenal
Kai Havertz came back to haunt his former club Bayer Leverkusen after his late penalty helped Arsenal salvage a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Leverkusen looked set to take a surprise advantage to the Emirates Stadium thanks to Robert Andrich's header, but Havertz stayed cool from 12 yards to seal a share of the spoils.
Christian Kofane forced David Raya into a seventh-minute save before Ibrahim Maza lashed a left-footed strike over as Leverkusen looked to make their early pressure tell.
But Kasper Hjulmand's side had the crossbar to thank in the 19th minute when a lightning counter ended with Viktor Gyokeres laying the ball off to Gabriel Martinelli, who rattled the woodwork with his weak foot.
Leverkusen flew out of the blocks in the second half and, after a clever corner routine, Raya was forced to tip Martin Terrier's header over the bar 10 seconds after the restart.
From the resulting corner, the host went in front as Alejandro Grimaldo's delivery to the back post was headed in by Andrich, who ghosted past Eberechi Eze and Jurrien Timber.
Arsenal wasted a golden opportunity six minutes from time when an unmarked Timber headed over from close range, but the Gunners would have one final opportunity.
The lively Noni Madueke skipped inside and was needlessly tripped by Malik Tillman, as Havertz stepped up to squeeze the penalty past Janis Blaswich and into the bottom-left corner in the 89th minute.
Leverkusen appeared on course to record four consecutive clean sheets in the Champions League for the first time in their history on Wednesday, but a late spark of individual brilliance from Madueke proved to be its undoing.
Indeed, Madueke became the first Arsenal substitute to win a penalty in a Champions League game since Emmanuel Eboue in March 2010 against Porto, though with Gyokeres off the field, someone had to step up.
And who better than Havertz? He has scored all four of his penalties across major European competitions, scoring from the spot at the BayArena both for and against Leverkusen.
