Arsenal’s Champions League hopes are hanging by a thread after they were blown away by Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.
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The Gunners came to Germany full of confidence and with history on their side having never lost at the Allianz Arena, but they were second-best throughout as Bayern showed that 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium a fortnight ago was the merest blip in their superb start to the season.
Robert Lewandowski put the hosts ahead early on as he sprung the rustiest of offside traps before a Thomas Muller brace as well as goals from David Alaba and substitute Arjen Robben did further damage – with Olivier Giroud scoring a scant consolation as Bayern ran out 5-1 winners.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho was granted a reprieve as Willian’s free-kick earned a 2-1 Group G victory over Dynamo Kiev at Stamford Bridge.
The adulation poured down from the stands on the self-proclaimed Special One and his Chelsea side eked out an unconvincing win last night to ease the pressure a little.
Aleksandar Dragovic turned Willian’s cross into his own net to give Chelsea an opener which had more than an element of good fortune and scored at the other end as Asmir Begovic’s luck deserted him.
But a delightful Willian free-kick settled the contest in Chelsea’s favour, giving the Blues a second win in six games and boosted their continental hopes ahead of ties with Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Porto, Mourinho’s former club.
Barcelona eased to a convincing 3-0 home win over outclassed BATE Borisov as Neymar and Luis Suarez continued their magnificent form in the absence of Lionel Messi.
The front pairing have now combined for 17 goals in eight games since fellow strike star Messi was injured five weeks ago, and their combination of dazzling skill and hard work was far too good for the beleaguered Belarusian visitors who concentrated on damage limitation from the opening whistle.
The only negative for the Catalans was a calf injury for midfielder Ivan Rakitic, whose availability for the Clasico on November 21 must now be questionable.
Russia’s Zenit Saint Petersburg qualified for the last 16 last night with a 2-0 win at French side Lyon. Artyom Dzyuba scored both goals as Andre Villas-Boas’ side made it four wins from four matches in Group H.
Elsewhere in the group, Belgian side Gent gave themselves a fighting chance of qualifying with a 1-0 victory over Valencia, their first in the competition. Sven Kums slammed home a penalty after the break to leave Gent, who had dominated the opening 45 minutes, two points behind sedond-placed Los Che.
Roma edged a thriller in the Italian capital with Miralem Pjanic’s penalty 10 minutes from time securing a 3-2 win over Leverkusen.
After a 4-4 draw in the first game between the two sides a fortnight ago there were five goals at the Stadio Olimpico with Mohamed Salah and Edin Dzeko putting the hosts into a 2-0 lead after just 29 minutes.
Leverkusen levelled through Admir Mehmedi and Javier Hernandez but Roma won it when Omer Toprak shoved Salah over inside the area and was red carded. Pjanic did the rest for the Italians to go second in Group E.
Elsewhere, a pair of second-half goals from substitute Felipe Pardo inspired Olympiakos to a 2-1 victory over 10-man Dinamo Zagreb, sending the hosts six points clear of third-placed Arsenal in Group F.
Porto have all-but booked their place in the next round with a 3-1 triumph over Maccabi Tel-Aviv. A fine team performance saw Cristian Tello open the scoring before the excellent Andre Andre added another ahead of the halftime interval.
Miguel Layun made it three, after good work from Tello, before Maccabi claimed a consolation from the penalty spot 18 minutes from time through Eran Zahavi.