CL round-up: Lewandowski frustrated on return to Bayern

Goals from Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane helped Bayern Munich secure a 2-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League to ruin Robert Lewandowski’s return to his old side.

Lewandowski departed the Bundesliga champions this summer and endured a difficult night back at Allianz Arena after failing to make the most of several chances in the Group C clash.

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski sits on the pitch
Image:
Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski sits on the pitch

Following a goalless first half, Julian Nagelsmann’s men turned it on early in the second period with Hernandez heading home Joshua Kimmich’s corner before fine play by Jamal Musiala set up Sane to fire home in the 54th minute to keep Bayern at the summit after two matches.

Sane in fine fettle

Bayern Munich’s Leroy Sane has been directly involved in nine goals (five goals, four assists) in his six Champions League home games since the start of last season, only Robert Lewandowski has more goal involvements at home in this time (15).

Edin Dzeko inspired Inter Milan to a 2-0 victory at Viktoria Plzen earlier in the day in the group.

With Romelu Lukaku still sidelined with a thigh issue, Dzeko stepped up for the Serie A side with a fine curled opener after 20 minutes and assisted Denzel Dumfries to wrap up the points in the 70th minute.

Bottom-of-the-table Plzen had already been reduced to 10 men by this point after Pavel Bucha received his marching orders on the hour mark.

Joel Matip was the unlikely hero to get Liverpool‘s European campaign back on track as his 89th-minute header secured a laboured 2-1 win over Ajax in Group A.

Liverpool's Joel Matip heads home the winner against Ajax
Image:
Liverpool’s Joel Matip heads home the winner against Ajax

After Jurgen Klopp declared their 4-1 loss in Napoli a “horror show”, a response was required at Anfield and Mohamed Salah’s opener helped settle any tension but the Dutch outfit equalised before half-time.

Mohammed Kudus smashed home in fine fashion and it was Ajax who looked the more likely to grab a second only for Matip to head home a late corner to give Liverpool a vital three points.

In Group D, Tottenham conceded two goals in injury time to slip to a 2-0 defeat at Sporting Lisbon.

Harry Kane shows his frustration during the 2-0 loss to Sporting Lisbon
Image:
Harry Kane shows his frustration during the 2-0 loss to Sporting Lisbon

Spurs were contemplating an evening of frustration as it looked like they would be held to a 0-0 draw in Portugal before things went very wrong in the final minutes.

Paulinho nodded home from a corner and then with virtually the last kick, Arthur Gomes sauntered into the box to put Sporting top of the group with two wins as Tottenham academy product Marcus Edwards impressed against his old club.

Frankfurt joined Spurs on three points after they claimed a 1-0 win in Marseille.

Jesper Lindstrom provided the breakthrough two minutes before the break and despite Matteo Guendouzi and Cengiz Under being introduced, the hosts suffered a second straight defeat in the competition.

Frankfurt's Jesper Lindstrom (center) celebrates after his deciding goal next to Marseille goalkeeper Pau Lopez
Image:
Frankfurt’s Jesper Lindstrom (center) celebrates after his deciding goal next to Marseille goalkeeper Pau Lopez

Atletico Madrid were on the receiving end of a late show at Bayer Leverkusen in Group B.

The La Liga side had struck twice in stoppage time to beat Porto last week but saw Robert Andrich and Moussa Diaby net in the final six minutes of the encounter in Germany to secure a 2-0 win.

Club Brugge are top of the group after a stunning 4-0 victory away to Porto. Ferran Jutgla put the visitors in front with quarter of an hour played and Kamal Sowah, Andreas Skov Olsen and Antonio Nusa were on target in the second half to earn the Belgians an excellent win.

Napoli‘s game at Rangers was postponed until Wednesday because of limited police resources in Scotland following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Adblock test

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *