Should Bayer Leverkusen's Robert Andrich have been on the pitch to score crucial opener against Arsenal in UEFA Champions League tie?

React to this story

Arsenal's Kai Havertz scored a late penalty to earn a 1-1 draw away to Bayer Leverkusen in Germany on Wednesday night in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie, cancelling out Robert Andrich's opener. However, there was controversy surrounding an earlier decision which might have seen the Leverkusen player dismissed in the opening minutes of the fixture.

Should Leverkusen scorer Andrich have been showed red?

Video credit: TNT Sports

Robert Andrich was the goalscorer for Bayer Leverkusen against Arsenal on Wednesday night - but should he still have been on the pitch?

The Premier League leaders travelled to Germany for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie and two early incidents suggested that Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres had the German player on the ropes.

Andrich was booked in the second minute when Gyokeres turned his man with ease and started to drive towards the box, only to be hauled down with a clumsy challenge.

Transfers

Man Utd, Arsenal target impresses scouts with perfect hat-trick - Paper Round

11 minutes ago

The referee had an easy decision to make and issued a yellow card to the 31-year-old Germany international.

TNT Sports pundit Lucy Ward observed at the time: "He did well there, Gyokeres. The way Arteta uses the No. 9 is to create space, so it's so important that Gyokores is either pinning or causing centre-backs to foul him because that’s a really early yellow card for Andrich."

Just two minutes later, with the scoreline still at 0-0, Gyokeres received the ball on the left side of the pitch and again looked to be on his way past Andrich, only for the defensive player to block off his run with a pretty ugly effort.

Andrich heads Leverkusen in front against Arsenal moments after stunning Raya save

Video credit: TNT Sports

That was whistled as a foul by the referee once more and there were relatively few signs of frustration at the time that the player was not given a second yellow.

Despite that, Ward pointed out that he was treading on thin ice because it would take only a little more for him to be given a second yellow.

She added: "What’s he doing there? I mean, he is basically a central midfielder playing as a middle centre-back because he likes to step into midfield. It does help but he does need to be careful. He might spoil it for his team."

Unfortunately for Arsenal, Andrich was then on hand to score the first goal of the game.

He ran to the back post to head in at the start of the second half, nabbing what for a long time appeared to be the only goal of the game as he headed in with David Raya nowhere near the flight of the ball.

Thankfully for Mikel Arteta, Kai Havertz was on hand to convert a penalty in the 89th minute to bring the tie back to London with the scores level.

However, for many, he should not have even been on the pitch to score, and the home side should have been down to 10 for most of the match. What do you think?

Discussing Andrich's second foul after the match, TNT Sports analyst Karen Carney said the Leverkusen star was fortunate to escape without a second booking.

"That one is a very simple yellow card. Gyokeres has rolled him, has turned him. There's a defender in there, covering him, but that is 100% a yellow card," Carney said.

"That's a block, he knows what he's doing. I find him very lucky to still be on the pitch, there. I think the ref has probably thought, ‘I'll give you a bit of a warning,’ but he probably would have got a yellow if he wasn't already on one."

Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown added: "That's exactly the sort of challenge you do not make when you're on a yellow card, so the referee was very lenient."

Stream the Premier League, Men’s and Women’s FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and more on TNT Sports and discovery+

Transfers