Every word Mikel Arteta said on Bukayo Saka substitution, Kai Havertz, Arsenal promise

Here is every word Mikel Arteta said after his Arsenal side’s clash with Bayer Leverkusen in Germany for the first leg of their last-16 clash.

Mikel Arteta faced the media after his Arsenal side rescued a draw from what looked destined to be a defeat in Germany. Beaten at their own game of set piece, Robert Andrich scored from a corner just after half-time.

However, it was the former Leverkusen star who came off the bench and scored from the penalty spot late on to dash the home side’s hopes of taking a win to North London. Noni Madueke was the man to win the penalty call which will cause much debate between now and next week.

The performance was certainly below expectations, and Mikel Arteta recognised that to go through to the next stage of the competition, his side would need to be much more efficient.

Here is every word from his post-match press conference:

What did you make of that game and how important is that late penalty going to be?

Very important, obviously. The game had different phases. In the first half we were very dominant and we had a big chance with Gabi to put it 1-0.

When you miss those chances, obviously the game can change. Then after that we didn't finish enough actions. Every time we got in and around the box we gave the ball away and that allowed certain counter-attacks that didn't like us.

Without really conceding nothing, we needed to solve certain things. We discussed that at half-time and we expected it to start very fast, especially because we knew certain routines that they have on kick-off, because they had three on the weekend and they said we get caught, we're not ready enough, we concede a chance on the header, and that's when we concede the ball. So when you give that hope and advantage to the opponent, at that level, they're going to take it, and then we had to really dig in because emotionally it becomes a very different challenge.

We had 10-15 minutes that we didn't really have enough threat and enough understanding of how we have to attack that block, but in the last 20-25 minutes with the changes, I think it was much better, and at the end, we found a way to score the goal and to end the game.

Obviously a special night for Kai coming back here. That penalty that he took, could that be a big moment for him? Obviously, since recovering his fitness, I think it's three goals in eight games now.

Yes, how composed he took and yes, football is a funny game and it brings special stories and him coming back here after such a long time, being part of this club, to come here and score such an important goal, I think it's a big moment.

Can I just ask you about the mindset towards the end of the game? Because it's a weird moment where you're in the first leg of two games, so you're not necessarily throwing in the kitchen sink trying to score that goal or to get the win, and there's change at the end of the game, but it was key to get that result and to take the draw rather than that defeat.

Yes, that's why I said emotionally it becomes a very different game because that is a team that is very, very good in transition, and you have more hurry and more rush to create danger and to go and draw the game, and you can get caught while doing that. I liked that emotionally, we understood what we had to do. The level of execution obviously has to be better and it will be better in the second leg. We'll adapt a few things and yes, we'll move on.

Can I just quickly check about Leo as well, because he missed this game. Is he OK?

Yes, he trained yesterday but he wasn't comfortable to play. He said he was still feeling something and you need at this level to play 100% and he wasn't.

It's not too many times we've seen you've been needing a goal in a game and taking Bukayo Saka off the pitch. I just wondered what was your assessment of his performance tonight and what inspired that change for you?

I thought that we needed something else and Noni has been contributing and being a real threat and I decided to make the change.

How impressed were you with the way Noni took the initiative, drove the defenders and ultimately won that penalty kick?

No surprise at all because that's his biggest quality. He's very brave at doing that and Noni is a real threat. To have a player with that ability when you need him and to step in in the manner that he did, big credit to him.

Of the eight straight wins in the knockout stages, was this a bit of a reminder to you of how difficult it is to win this sort of competition?

Yes, and how difficult it is to win against any opponent in the competition and especially away from home. There is a big factor there. Then you realise what we've done to win it, this competition, because it's so tough that nobody did it before.

Fully aware of that, we knew the importance of the game and the difficulty of the opponent and now we need to finish it in London.

In the attacking third, especially in the first half, you had a lot of the ball. In some ways, did it remind you of the talents of Martin Odegaard and the way he's able to unlock the pitch and what he brings to the team?

Yes, Martin has different qualities, but we have players with a lot of talent. The execution of a lot of actions obviously has to be at another level. You want to create much more threat in and around the box, and today, on many occasions, it wasn't.

It's part of football. You have to react after that, and especially since it's something that we did after regaining the ball, we allowed too much space to turn us and make us run backwards, and that's certainly something to improve.

I thought that Leverkusen defended quite well in wide areas. Do you agree and how will you look to improve on trying to break them down in that block in the second half?

Yes, we will look at the things that we have improved, the situation that we can create and try to be especially much more efficient in a lot of simple things that today we didn't do so well.

It's not very often you can say at all this season that Arsenal are caught by routines like the kick-off in the second half and the corner after. Were you disappointed with the way your side defended the corner straight after that kick-off as well?

There are always two sides to that. 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.