Bayer Leverkusen’s Simon Rolfes on who he wants to play in the Champions League round of 16: “It would be great if we were drawn against Arsenal.”

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·25 de fevereiro de 2026

Bayer Leverkusen’s Simon Rolfes on who he wants to play in the Champions League round of 16: “It would be great if we were drawn against Arsenal.”

Imagem do artigo:Bayer Leverkusen’s Simon Rolfes on who he wants to play in the Champions League round of 16: “It would be great if we were drawn against Arsenal.”

Following Bayer Leverkusen’s progression to the Champions League round of 16, director of sport Simon Rolfes revealed who he would like to play in the next round.

On Tuesday night, Leverkusen drew 0-0 with Olympiacos to progress following their 2-0 win in the first leg last week.

Vídeos OneFootball

In the next round, die Werkself will either play fellow Bundesliga side Bayern Munich or Arsenal. On who he would like to play in the round of 16, Rolfes said to Bild:

“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. 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.”

Havertz has not played for Leverkusen since 2020 and has not had the chance to return to the BayArena.

Leverkusen head coach Kasper Hjulmand would also like to play the Premier League side:

“They are two of the best teams in Europe, they play at the same level. 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.”

Leverkusen could face Bayern four times:

If Leverkusen end up drawing their Bundesliga rivals in the next round, it would mean they would face Bayern four times in a matter of weeks.

The first leg will take place on the 10-11th of March, Leverkusen will then host Bayern in the Bundesliga on the 14th, and then the second leg will be on the 17/18 of March. The pair will then play against each other in the DFB Pokal on the 21st of April.

GGFN | Jack Meenan