Why Bayer Leverkusen want Arsenal - not Bayern Munich - in Champions League last 16 | OneFootball

Bundesliga outfit would prefer Gunners clash to more games against domestic rivals Bayern Munich

Bayer Leverkusen would prefer to play Arsenal rather than Bayern Munich next in the Champions League, according to sporting director Simon Rolfes.

Kasper Hjulmand’s side were held to a goalless home draw by the Greek giants in Tuesday night’s second leg at BayArena, with Spanish wing-back Alejandro Grimaldo hitting the crossbar during a dominant display that failed to yield a breakthrough.

The Bundesliga side know they will be paired with either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in Friday’s last-16 draw held in Switzerland, with Rolfes hoping for a showdown with the Premier League leaders - league phase table-toppers with a 100 per cent record - rather than a reunion with domestic rivals Bayern, whom they play in the Bundesliga next month and also in the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal in April.

Bayern easily beat Leverkusen 3-0 in their first meeting of the season at the Allianz Arena back in November, while they also brushed them aside 5-0 on aggregate in the last 16 of the Champions League last term.

A clash between Leverksen and Arsenal would also see the German club reunited with former forward Kai Havertz and defender Piero Hincapie, who is currently on loan at the Emirates Stadium and has impressed - with Arsenal expected to trigger their option for a £45million permanent transfer in the summer.

Simon Rolfes is the current sporting director at Bayer Leverkusen

Getty Images

In the event that Arsenal did draw Leverkusen, Hincapie would be eligible to play against his parent club under UEFA rules.

“They are two of the best teams in Europe, they play at the same level,” Rolfes told German publication Bild about the prospect of facing Arsenal or Bayern. “That’s great. We want to play against the best.

“We’re looking forward to this big challenge. Four games in one month against Bayern? With Arsenal, there might be a bit of variety.

“It would be great if we were drawn against Arsenal. Then we could finally say goodbye to Kai Havertz at our stadium – almost six years after his departure [for Chelsea].

“I was recently in contact with Kai. He would also be happy to see us again. He was keeping his fingers crossed for us to advance.”

In other quotes attributed to Rolfes, he said: “Arsenal would be nice. I said the same thing when we could've faced Dortmund in the previous round.

“Especially that we would be able to meet two of our former players in Kai Havertz and Piero Hincapie. Nobody wants these ties between teams from the same country.”

Serie A side Atalanta are the other team Arsenal could draw on Friday after the former thrashed Dortmund 4-1 at home on Wednesday night to erase a 2-0 first-leg deficit.