“It was very impressive”
After almost a year: DFB striker celebrates dream comeback
01/29/2026 – 12:04 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Kai Havertz is back in the starting lineup after almost a year out due to injury. The professional plays a decisive role in his team’s victory.
Arsenal FC played a perfect group stage in the Champions League. The English won 3-2 (3-1) against Qairat Almaty on Wednesday evening, their eighth game of the preliminary round. The German national player Kai Havertz particularly shone. In his starting eleven comeback, he contributed one goal and two assists. Coach Mikel Arteta praised the striker after the game: “The fact that he did it today after such a long time was very impressive.”
Havertz was back in Arsenal’s starting lineup for the first time in 357 days: first a thigh injury slowed him down from February to May 2025, then a knee injury from mid-August. In the current season, the 26-year-old only played 30 minutes in the Premier League – on the first matchday against Manchester United (1-0). Most recently, however, he was substituted on in the final stages of the FA Cup and EFL Cup.
“The team knows how important Kai is for us and how he can help us to become significantly better and reach a new level,” continued Arteta, who is convinced that with Havertz the Champions League title is possible this year. The ex-Leverkusen player will draw “a lot of self-confidence, joy and energy” from his comeback.
Havertz’s return is also good news for national coach Julian Nagelsmann: Fully healthy, the 55-time national player is part of the German team’s offensive line-up for the World Cup in the summer in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
