Man City Stun Bacelona As Arsenal Launched Great Come Back Against Ludogoret On Tuesday Night

 

Nigeria International Kelechi Iheanacho watched on from the bench as Manchester City defied the odds on Wednesday to defeat Barcelona 3-1 to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the next round of the UEFA Champions League competition.

The 20-year-old who scored in City’s 4-0 rout of Borussia Monchengladbach on match day 1 has scored once so far in this competition.

A brace from Ilkay Gundogan and a sublime free kick from Kevin de Bruyne gave Pep Guardiola’s side a massive win at the Ethiad stadium.

Lionel Messi gave the Catalan giants the lead in the 21st minute of the encounter but Ilkay Gundogan restored parity for the Citizens 19 minutes later after Sergio Agureo capitalised on a defensive error from Sergi Roberto.

With scores level at half time, Manchester City took the lead with a brilliant free-kick from Kevin De Bruyne in the 51st minute. Gundogan made it 3-1 in the 74th minute to brighten their chances of advancing to the next round of the competition.

The results in Group C leave Barcelona on top despite their defeat with nine points and are closely followed by Manchester City on seven points.

Borussia Moenchengladbach are third with four points following their 1-1 draw at home to Celtic who remain bottom of the group.

In Bulgaria, Alex Iwobi was handed a cameo appearance his fourth appearance in this season’s UEFA Champions league for Arsenal who defeated Ludogorets Razgrad 3-2.

The 20-year-old Nigerian international replaced Mesut Ozil in the 90th minute of the encounter.

Iwobi has played eight times for the Gunners this season in the Premier League.

The Gunners fought back from two goals down to top Group A on a superior goal difference ahead of Paris Saint Germain who also defeated FC Basel 2-1.

In Group D, Atletico Madrid maintained their lead on the log with a 2-1 win over Russian side FC Rostov at the Vincente Caulderon.

A brace from Antoine Griezmann cancelled out Serdar Azmoun’s goal for the Ukrainian side.

In the other fixture of the group, Robert Lewandowski scored a brace to ensure Bayern Munich a safe passage into the next round with nine points with PSV Eindhoven and FC Rostov on one point.

RESULTS

Group A

Basel 1-2 Paris Saint Germain

Ludogorets Razgrad 2-3 Arsenal

Group B

Besiktas 1-1 SSC Napoli

Benfica 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv

Group C

Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-1 Celtic

Manchester City 3-1 Barcelona

Group D

Atletico Madrid 2-1 FC Rostov

PSV Eindhoven 1-2 Bayern Munich