The moment belonged to Kai Havertz. With just a minute or so remaining at Bayer Leverkusen’s BayArena on Sunday afternoon, Havertz, a teenage midfielder, and the home team were losing to Wolfsburg. Mario Gomez, the visitors’ slick-haired, evergreen forward, had scored a quick-fire hat trick to overturn Leverkusen’s two-goal lead.
Then, as the game ticked into its dying seconds, Karim Bellarabi lofted a pass into Havertz’s path. Havertz adjusted his stride, just a little, and caught the ball as it bounced with the outside of his left foot. His shot scudded past the Wolfsburg goalkeeper and into the bottom corner, salvaging a 3-3 tie.