After Arsenal’s shock win against Bayern at the Emirates, it was the Bavarians’ chance to return the favour but it was no surprise this time, as Pep Guardiola’s men simply outclassed the Gunners 5-1. Jose Mourinho will heave a sigh of relief after a vital three points against Dynamo Kyiv. Barcelona, took 0 minutes to open the scoring against BATE Borisov but after that, it was a stroll in the park for the group leaders.
Image: Reuters
An upset at the Allianz Arena was unlikely and completely off the cards, when Robert Lewandowski cleverly beat the offside trap to glance Thiago’s cross home past the stupefied Petr Cech, as the Arsenal defence raised their hands for offside, to no avail. Almost immediately Arsenal seemingly restored parity but Mesut Ozil had his equaliser ruled out for handball and was subsequently shown a yellow card. Thomas Muller doubles his side’s lead, when Kingsley Coman’s mishit fell to him and the German’s shot took a deflection of Per Mertesacker before creeping in past Cech. David Alaba rounded off a brilliant first-half display, when he wrestled the ball off Santi Cazorla and curled in a left-footed shot into the top left from 25 yards to make it 3-0.
Image: Reuters
It was to get even worse for Arsene Wenger, as Arjen Robben was brought on and the Dutch winger made an immediate impact when he finished off a picturesque Bayern move in the 54th minute, 37 seconds after coming on. Douglas Costa slipped the ball into the box between two Arsenal defenders for David Alaba, who passed the ball into the danger area for Robben, who ghosted in to send his shot into the roof of the net. Arsenal fought back fervently and Santi Cazorla had his shot blocked by Neuer, before Olivier Giroud finally got a goal back in the 69th minute. The Frenchman controlled Alexis Sanchez’s with his chest and expertly volleyed a shot past Neuer to make it 4-1. But it was Pep Guardiola who had the last laugh, when Douglas Costa burst through the centre of the pitch and passed it on the right to Thomas Muller, who converted with ease with just Cech to beat, to compound Arsenal’s misery.
Arsenal were ravaged by injuries and there wasn’t much they could do to stop the rampaging Bayern and after this hammering, Arsene Wenger’s men find themselves rock bottom in Group F and on the brink of an exit, after Olympiakos beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-1. To qualify for the knockout stages, Arsenal must win both upcoming ties against Dinamo and Olympiakos to keep hopes alive for the last-16.
After a disappointing league outing against Liverpool, Jose Mourinho’s men came into the game amidst reports of a rift between the manager and the players. The Blues started brightly and found themselves a goal to the good, as Willian’s cross from the right flank was put into his own net by Kiev defender Aleksandar Dragovic. Brazilian winger, Willian, who spent 6 years at Dynamo’s Ukrainian rivals Shakhtar, was easily Chelsea’s biggest threat with his sheer space and raw strength down the right hand flank.
Image: AFP
In the second half, Serhiy Rebrov’s men, constantly threatened the shaky Blues’ defence, as they dominated much of the proceedings in the second half, dictating the tempo of the game and finally, in the 78th minute, Aleksandar Dragovic scored again, only this time on the right side of the pitch. A corner from the right was curled in and Asmir Begovic made a mess of his punch away and the ball fell kindly to the Austrian centre-back, who thumped the ball into an empty net, to make amends for his first-half own goal. Moments later, Willian, restored Chelsea’s lead through a sublime free-kick, an area of the game which he has mastered, one would say, to seal a crucial three points for Jose Mourinho. The victory sees the Londoners at second place in group G, 3 points behind group leaders FC Porto. Dynamo Kiev, on the other hand, find themselves at third place, 5 points ahead of Maccabi Tel Aviv, who are yet to secure a point in the competition.
Holders FC Barcelona came up against a resilient BATE Borisov in round 4 and quite unsurprisingly, effectively dismissed the Belarusian minnows. It took the treble winners thirty minutes to break the deadlock, when substitute Munir El Haddadi was brought down by Filip Mladenovic after a give and go with Luis Suarez inside the penalty box and although the referee wasn’t too keen on awarding Barçelona the penalty, he pointed to the spot after consulting the linesman. With Lionel Messi out through injury, Neymar Jr. stepped up to take the spot-kick and almost nonchalantly sent the ‘keeper the wrong way, to give his side the lead.
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The hosts doubled their lead in the second half as the Brazilian starlet played the ball from the left flank to Luis Suarez who left two BATE defenders for the dead with two sublime touches and slotted the ball into the net with his third touch at the hour mark. The third goal for Barcelona consisted for 4 passes in total as La Masia graduate, Gerard Gumbau split Borisov’s defence as the ball was passed to goalscorer Luis Suarez who rode with the ball at his feet till the 18 yard-box box and unselfishly passed it to Neymar, who had an empty net ahead of him to finish, completing a classic counterattack.
The result sees Barcelona on top of Group E with a 5 point cushion, with Roma in second place following their 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Other Results:
KAA Gent 1-0 Valencia
Olympique Lyon 0-2 Zenit St Petersburg
Credits to Sahil Bhinde for the Chelsea vs Dynamo and Barcelona vs BATE report
Tags: Arsenal Barcelona Bayern Chelsea Jose Mourinho
