Kasper Hjulmand warned Bayer Leverkusen that facing Arsenal is “one of the most difficult challenges” ahead of their Champions League round-of-16 clash.

After finishing 16th in the league phase, Leverkusen overcame Olympiakos 2-0 on aggregate across two legs in their play-off to reach the knockout stage proper.

And they have been rewarded with a last-16 tie against the favourites to win the Champions League, with the Opta supercomputer giving Arsenal a 27% chance of lifting the trophy for the first time.

Leverkusen have progressed from four of their five major European knockout ties against English clubs, failing only against Liverpool in 2004-05 in the Champions League.

Hjulmand knows his side are the underdogs, with the supercomputer giving them a 19.1% chance of winning the first leg, but he believes Leverkusen are up for the challenge.

“Arsenal are perhaps the best team in Europe at the moment,” he said.

“They finished first in the league phase of the Champions League and won all their games, scored the most goals and conceded the fewest.

“It’s one of the most difficult challenges, but we’re really looking forward to it! We want to enjoy big games like this together with our fans.

“Arsenal are the clear favourites. But we’ve already shown this season against many big teams like Manchester City, [Borussia] Dortmund and [RB] Leipzig that we can beat them. And as we all know, anything is possible in football.

“You just have to believe in it. This belief in yourself is extremely important. That’s why we’re going into the game with confidence, and we’ll give everything at home to get a good result for the second leg.”

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— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) March 10, 2026

Leverkusen are unbeaten in their last three Champions League games (W2 D1), keeping a clean sheet in all three.

The German side have never previously kept four consecutive shutouts in the competition, but they face a tough test to do so as Arsenal were the highest scorers in the league phase with 23 goals.

Hjulmand’s side are boosted at the other end of the pitch, with Patrik Schick back from injury, though, and Christian Kofane hopes Leverkusen can be brave as they chase a first-leg advantage.

“Arsenal are a very big team. But we have trained well and are ready,” he said.

“We’ll be brave and give our all so we don’t have to blame ourselves in the end and make our fans happy.”