Arsenal undone by own set-piece weapon as 100% record ends
"You do it too, eh?".
Those were the words from Arsenal's set-piece coach Nicolas Jover to Bayer Leverkusen manager Kasper Hjulmand after the German side took the lead from a corner in the Champions League last-16 first-leg tie between the two sides.
They struck having almost scored seconds earlier from an excellently-worked routine from the kick-off to start the second half, with David Raya tipping Martin Terrier's header over.
From Alex Grimaldo's set-piece, captain Robert Andrich was left free to nod in at the back post.
It was the first time the Gunners had been behind in this season's Champions League.
German forward Kai Havertz, who spent 10 years at Leverkusen before being sold to Chelsea for £71m in 2020, came off the bench to slot in the 89th-minute equaliser after Noni Madueke was brought down in the box.
Jover's comment to Hjulmand was also sparked by some from the Leverkusen head coach about how Arsenal use their physicality at corners to gain an advantage.
"I think there was a little bit of misunderstanding of my press conference yesterday and I was challenging the way things Arsenal are doing offensive blocks," said Hjulmand.
"We do it also. We do offensive blocks and we do it to make space. I was just questioning whether it is in the rules to body check and take a player out to make space.
"He [Jover] just said, 'You do it too, eh?'. It's the same for all teams, we are all doing it."
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta was disappointed to concede from a set-piece, not only because of Arsenal's own prowess from corners but because he showed his team "three clips" of Leverkusen's well-worked routines from kick-offs.
Before the tie at the BayArena, Arsenal had conceded only 11 goals from set-pieces in all competitions, level with Manchester City. Only Wolves (10) and Everton (9) had conceded fewer.
"There's always two sides to that," added Arteta. "One is the element of the opponent that they picked that weakness, and that lack of attention or urgency in both situations.
"And the other one is us, because we knew. We showed them three clips from last weekend in three different ways, and we weren't ready for it, and we got caught."
