Arsenal and Bayern Munich secured victories in the UEFA Champions League but Manchester City squandered a three-goal lead to settle for a draw. Arsenal got back to winning ways in the competition with a commanding 5-1 victory over Sporting at Estadio Jose Alvalade. Goals by Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Magalhães, Bukayo Saka, and Leandro Trossard made a light walk of Gonçalo Inácio’s effort for the hosts. The result means Arsenal move up to seventh in the Champions League table while Sporting are a place behind them, with both sides on 10 points. In Germany, Bayern Munich boosted their hopes of a top-eight finish in the league phase of the competition with a 1-0 victory over Paris St-Germain. Defender Kim Min-jae scored the only goal seven minutes before the interval to condemn the French side to yet another defeat as they remain winless in the Champions League since September. Read Also: UCL: Raphinha nets hat-trick as Barca thrash Bayern; Man City, Liverpool win Elsewhere, Manchester City blew away 3-0 to draw 3-3 against Feyenoord as their wretched form continued at a stunned Etihad Stadium. Pep Guardiola’s side looked to be cruising after two goals from Erling Haaland and another from Ilkay Gundogan put the hosts into a commanding lead. But the Dutch visitors staged a stunning comeback to take a point back, with goals from Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Giménez, and David Hancko. Having failed to win their past six matches in all competitions, City have a huge game coming on Sunday against rivals Liverpool. City are 15th in the Champions League table after dropping seven points from five matches. In the other Champions League ties of Tuesday, Barcelona thrashed Brest 5-0, Atalanta thrashed Young Boys 6-1, Inter Milan pipped RB Leipzig 1-0. Bayer Leverkusen also thrashed RB Salzburg 5-0, Atletico Madrid hammered Sparta Prague 6-0, while AC Milan won 3-2 over hosts Slovan. Opinions Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs. As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake. If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause. Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development. Donate Now
Sam Darnold-led Vikings down Packers for ninth straight winROME (AP) — Robert Lewandowski joined Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the only players in Champions League history with 100 or more goals. But Erling Haaland is on a faster pace than anyone by boosting his total to 46 goals at age 24 on Tuesday. Still, Haaland's brace wasn't enough for Manchester City in a 3-3 draw with Feyenoord that extended the Premier League champion's winless streak to six matches. Lewandowski’s early penalty kick started Barcelona off to a 3-0 win over previously unbeaten Brest to move into second place in the new single-league format. The Poland striker added goal No. 101 in second-half stoppage time. Ronaldo leads the all-time scoring list with 140 goals and Messi is next with 129. But neither Ronaldo nor Messi play in the Champions League anymore following moves to Saudi Arabia and the United States, respectively. “It’s a nice number,” Lewandowski said. “In the past I didn’t think I could score more than 100 goals in the Champions League. I’m in good company alongside Cristiano and Messi.” The 36-year-old Lewandowski required 125 matches to reach the century mark, two more than Messi (123) and 12 fewer than Ronaldo (137). Barcelona also got a second-half score from Dani Olmo. The top eight finishers in the standings advance directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams ranked ninth to 24th go into a knockout playoffs round in February, while the bottom 12 teams are eliminated. Haaland converted a first-half penalty to eclipse Messi as the youngest player to reach 45 goals then scored City's third after the break to raise his total to 46 goals in 44 games. Ilkay Gundogan had City's second. But then Feyenoord struck back with goals from Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Gimenez and David Hancko. Inter Milan beat Leipzig 1-0 with an own goal to move atop the standings with 13 points, one more than Barcelona and Liverpool, which faces Real Madrid on Wednesday. The Serie A champion is the only club that hasn't conceded a goal. Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 — the same score from the 2020 final between the two teams. PSG ended with 10 men and remained in the elimination zone. The French powerhouse has struggled in Europe after Kylian Mbappe’s move to Real Madrid. Kim Min-jae’s first-half header was enough for Bayern, especially after Ousmane Dembelé was sent off in the 56th with his second yellow. Atalanta moved within two points of the lead with a 6-1 win at Young Boys. Charles De Ketelaere scored two and assisted on three other goals for Atalanta. Also, Arsenal kept red-hot striker Viktor Gyokeres quiet in a 5-1 win over Sporting Lisbon; and Germany star Florian Wirtz scored two goals and was involved in two more as Bayer Leverkusen boosted its chances of finishing in the top eight with a 5-0 rout of Salzburg. AC Milan followed up its win at Real Madrid with a 3-2 victory at last-place Slovan Bratislava in an early match. Christian Pulisic put the seven-time champion ahead midway through the first half by finishing off a counterattack. Then Rafael Leao restored the Rossoneri’s advantage after Tigran Barseghyan had equalized for Bratislava and Tammy Abraham quickly added another. Nino Marcelli scored with a long-range strike in the 88th for Bratislava, which ended with 10 men. Bratislava has lost all five of its matches. Argentina World Cup winner Julian Alvarez scored twice and Atletico Madrid routed Sparta Prague 6-0 in the other early game. Alvarez scored with a free kick 15 minutes in and Marcos Llorente added a long-range strike before the break. Alvarez finished off a counterattack early in the second half after being set up by substitute Antoine Griezmann, who then marked his 100th Champions League game by getting on the scoresheet himself. Angel Correa added a late brace for Atletico, which earned its biggest away win in Europe. Atletico beat Paris Saint-Germain in the previous round and extended its winning streak across all competitions to six matches. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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