Arsenal top of the table after UEFA Champions League Matchday 5
Arsenal beat Bayern 3-1 to replace the Bundesliga side at the top of the league phase table.
Arsenal beat Bayern München 3-1 to record their fifth league phase win of the campaign, a perfect record which leaves them top of the table after UEFA Champions League Matchday 5 and secures them at least a place in the knockout phase play-offs. Leading the individual scoring charts, meanwhile, is Kylian Mbappé after he struck all of Real Madrid’s goals in their 4-3 win at Olympiacos.
Holders Paris went one better with five against Tottenham, while there were also eye-catching wins for PSV – at the expense of Liverpool – Sporting CP and Atalanta. We round up all the action.
Arsenal 3-1 Bayern München
The Gunners’ winning league phase run continued as they inflicted a first defeat of the season on Bayern in all competitions.
Arsenal took the lead on 22 minutes, when Buyako Saka’s curling corner was nodded in by Jurriën Timber. Bayern drew level ten minutes later, Joshua Kimmich’s long ball finding Serge Gnabry to set up 17-year-old Lennart Karl in front of goal.
Noni Madueke regained the hosts’ lead with a close-range strike, before Gabriel Martinelli rounded Manuel Neuer and slotted into an open goal to wrap up the victory and book the hosts’ place in the knockout phase.
Olympiacos 3-4 Real Madrid
Mbappé’s four-goal haul – including the second-fastest treble in the competition’s history – ensured Los Blancos sealed a narrow victory in Piraeus. The hosts led via Chiquinho’s composed eighth-minute effort following a well-worked move, before Mbappé hit back with three strikes in the space of six minutes and 42 seconds just ahead of the half-hour mark.
Substitute Mehdi Taremi nodded in emphatically soon after the interval, with Vinícius Júnior’s cutback affording Mbappé the opportunity to find the net once again from close range. Ayoub El Kaabi set up a tense finish with a glancing header, but the visitors held firm.
Paris 5-3 Tottenham
A Vitinha hat-trick helped Paris emerge victorious from a captivating encounter. Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani twice gave the north London side the lead, but two Vitinha stunners cancelled out those strikes.
Fabián Ruiz and Willian Pacho struck to earn Paris a two-goal advantage and, while Kolo Muani doubled his tally for the evening, a Vitinha penalty secured the points to make it four league phase wins from five for the reigning champions despite Lucas Hernández’s late dismissal.
Liverpool 1-4 PSV
PSV claimed just a second victory in 15 visits to England and, in so doing, condemned Liverpool to a ninth defeat in their last 12 games in all competitions. This was a third successive three-goal loss for the Reds.
Ivan Perišić scored an early penalty after Virgil van Dijk handled in the penalty area but Dominik Szoboszlai levelled ten minutes later. The visitors responded in the second half, however, Guus Til’s first Champions League strike added to by substitute Couhaib Driouech’s late double.
Atletico 2-1 Inter
José María Giménez’s 93rd-minute header settled an end-to-end encounter in Madrid. Home No1 Juan Musso parried shots by Federico Dimarco and Hakan Çalhanoğlu either side of Julián Alvarez pouncing to hit the ninth-minute opener for Atleti.
After Nicolò Barella lobbed a shot against the crossbar for Inter early in the second half, Piotr Zieliński slotted in the equaliser in the 54th minute. Nerazzurri goalkeeper Yann Sommer denied Antoine Griezmann and Marc Pubill before Giménez emphatically decided proceedings from Griezmann’s corner.
Frankfurt 0-3 Atalanta
Three goals in six second-half minutes guided Atalanta to a comfortable victory, with Ademola Lookman providing a goal and assist in an eye-catching individual performance.
Lookman opened the scoring on the hour before Éderson and Charles De Ketelaere ensured the visitors claimed maximum points to climb up the standings.
Pafos 2-2 Monaco
Pafos twice came from behind to claim a draw in Limassol. Takumi Minamino put Monaco ahead after just five minutes following a clever Maghnes Akliouche through ball.
The hosts almost responded moments later only for Anderson’s curling strike to smack the bar, before David Luiz nodded in emphatically from Mislav Oršić’s corner. The visitors edged back ahead with the half-hour approaching, as Folarin Balogun pounced on a misplaced pass to fire in. Mohammed Salisu then deflected a rebound into his own net after Ivan Šunjić’s header had hit the woodwork.
