Kai Havertz is full of anticipation for tonight’s UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg away to Bayer Leverkusen.
Our German forward spent a decade at the club, representing their youth teams from 2010 to 2016 before making over 100 appearances for the senior side up until 2020.
So it was a poignant moment for Kai on Tuesday, travelling back to BayArena for the pre-match press conference.
“I think it’s amazing,” he told the assembled press. “I think I already saw a lot of familiar faces and obviously a lot of memories are coming up, especially for me, playing for Arsenal, playing for this club.
“Coming back to my childhood club is amazing and I can’t wait for the game.”
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There’s still a long way to go of course, but Kai is no stranger to lifting the Champions League trophy, having found out what it took to achieve such success with Chelsea in 2021.
“I think Chelsea had lots of experienced players, the same as we have now,” he reflected. “I think we had games where we needed a bit of luck as well, but at the end of the day I think we just stood together as a group and we started to go on the run, win games.
“I don’t know, I don’t remember a lot about the games before the final, but I think they were always tough matches, always matches that were on the edge, and then we had sometimes moments where we could lose the match, but also could win them, and we decided to win them always.
“For me obviously it was a great experience to be in the final, to win that final and to score. So they are top memories and I just hope I can do it here as well with Arsenal now this season.
“I think at the moment we are at the stage where we basically look at it game by game, and for us honestly the most important game is tomorrow, and I know myself how tough Leverkusen are to beat, especially here at their home.
“I think they’re a very good team, a top manager, so all we think about is tomorrow, to win that game and then go home and go for the next one on the weekend, Premier League again, and then face them in the second leg next week. So I think that’s all we’re thinking about now.”
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