Agence France-Presse
Paris, Nov 5: Arsenal’s hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout phase were left hanging by a thread after they were thrashed 5-1 by Bayern Munich, while Chelsea revived their faltering campaign with a nervy 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev at Stamford Bridge in matches played Wednesday.
Luis Suarez and Neymar continued to deliver the goods for Barcelona in the absence of Lionel Messi as the Catalan giants strolled past BATE Borisov 3-0. Meanwhile Zenit St Petersburg became the third team to reach the last 16 of the competition as the Russian champions maintained their 100 per cent record with a 2-0 win at Lyon.
Bayern’s unbeaten start to the season was ended by a 0-2 defeat at Arsenal a fortnight ago but Pep Guardiola’s side exacted revenge and then some at the Allianz Arena.
Robert Lewandowski headed Bayern into a 10th-minute lead as Arsenal’s attempt to catch the Poland striker offside, backfired. Thomas Mueller added a second just before the half hour as his shot deflected off Per Mertesacker and crept in at Petr Cech’s near post.
David Alaba effectively put the game beyond reach just before the break as the Austrian curled home a third after stealing the ball from Santi Cazorla on the edge of the area.
Substitute Arjen Robben then smashed home an Alaba cutback early in the second half while Olivier Giroud’s acrobatic effort pulled one back for the Gunners. But Mueller compounded Arsenal’s misery a minute from time to condemn the Gunners to their joint-heaviest European defeat, equalling the 4-0 drubbing at AC Milan in the last 16 of the 2011/12 edition.
A chastening evening for the Londoners was made all the more damaging as Olympiakos recovered from a goal down to beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-1, leaving Arsenal six points behind the Greeks, and Bayern, with two games to play.
Meanwhile, beleaguered Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho was a much-relieved man after Willian helped steer the Blues past their Ukrainian opponents.
Chelsea took a first half lead when Willian’s right-wing cross was headed into his own net by Aleksandar Dragovic, only for the Austrian to atone with a 78th-minute equaliser.
But Willian curled in a superb free-kick seven minutes from time to hand the hosts all three points and bump them up to second in Group G, two points above Kiev.
Neymar netted a 31st-minute penalty and added a late second with Luis Suarez also grabbing a goal at the Camp Nou. Hosts Barcelona dominated both the sessions of the game and could have won by a better margin but for some stout defending by the Borisov defenders.
At a glance
Bayern Munich 5 Arsenal 1
Chelsea 2 Dynamo Kiev 1
Barcelona 3 BATE Borisov 0
Porto 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1
AS Roma 3 Leverkusen 2
Olympiakos 2 Dinamo Zagreb 1
Zenit 2 Lyon 0
