Arsenal suffered back-to-back defeats in the space of a few days after going down 1-0 to Inter Milan in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
Yann Bisseck, Mehdi Taremi, Davide Frattesi, Hakan Calhanoglu were amongst the changes by the host, as the Gunners named the returning skipper Martin Odegaard on the bench.
Inter targeted a fast start when Denzel Dumfries coming in on the far side of the box and fired off the crossbar from a clever position.
However, the host were in the lead on the stroke of halftime when Calhanoglu tucked in from the penalty spot with Mikel Merino flagged for a hand-ball.
Arsenal looked repeatedly in the second half for a comeback with a succession of deliveries into the box, but the Italian giants hold firm and collected a third win in a row in the tournament.
Red Star Belgrade 2-5 FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona’s enthralling run of form in all competitions continued with a dominant 5-2 victory over Red Star Belgrade.
Martinez broke the deadlock in the 13th minute through a fine diving header at the back-post following Raphinha’s free-kick.
Red Star were on level terms a couple of minutes to the half-hour mark as Silas raced in-behind following a through pass and calmly beat Inigo Pena.
The LaLiga leaders were back in front ahead of the break after Robert Lewandowski reacted timeously to a loose ball from the post off Raphinha’s shot and stabbed in.
Lewandowski was at it again moments past the interval and bagged a brace through a simple finish from close-range after Red Star failed to clear their lines.
Having been pivotal all night, Raphinha got in on the act a little later and pulled in a decent position in the area to meet Kounde’s cutback for a smart finish.
Barcelona continued to run the show as Fermin Lopez showed great footwork to bring Kounde’s delivery under control and slammed in the bottom-corner.
The Serbian heavyweights put a late fight of sorts with Milson managing to come inside and curled in the top corner, but the damage was done seeing Barca to a third win on the spin in the competition.
Bayern Munich 1-0 Benfica
Bayern Munich got their campaign back on track and claimed a narrow 1-0 win over Benfica at the Allianz Arena.
The Bavarians welcomed back Serge Gnabry and Konrad Laimer – sacrificing Raphael Guerreiro and Kingsley Coman in the process.
Bruno Lage’s men proved to be no pushover nor were overawed by the aura of the host, thus maintained their approach for a goalless turn of events at the break.
Given the tense show on display, Bayern were in the lead around the final stages when Jamal Musiala nipped in the box to nod in Harry Kane’s pullback.
Paris Saint-Germain 1-2 Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid overturned an early set-back to overcome Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in the League Phase.
Former Chelsea man Conor Gallagher was restored for Atleti and replaced Samuel Lino before Axel Witsel stepped in place of Jose Gimenez, while Warren Zaire-Emery was PSG’s sole change.
The latter set the ball rolling in the earlier stages through a composed finish from a delightful through pass by Ousmane Dembele.
Diego Simeone’s outfit instantly pulled level as Nahuel Molina pounced on a loose ball in the box following a deflected delivery and nestled in.
Atletico went on to seal the points in the dying minutes after Angel Correa brought a clipped pass into the area from Antoine Griezmann in his stride and fired in the bottom-corner.
Club Brugge 1-0 Aston Villa
Aston Villa dropped points for the first time in this season’s tournament in a 1-0 loss to Belgian giants Club Brugge.
The Premier League boys struggled to get into gear through the course of the match and were fortunate not to go behind when Jutgla’s angled shot late in the first half rattled the upright.
It needed captain Hans Vanaken to separate the sides through a calmly taken penalty five minutes after halftime as Tyron Mings untimely used a hand to control the ball in the area.
Villa couldn’t master out a response afterwards as the home team calmly ran out the rest of the proceedings for their second win of the tournament.
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