Champions League: City stun Madrid; Arsenal stay perfect PSG frustrated again; Juventus survive scare

New Delhi: Table-topping Arsenal made it six wins from six and cemented their place at the top of the league phase table with a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while Manchester City City emerged victorious 2-1 from their trip to Real Madrid.

Superb Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli strikes helped Arsenal move to six wins from six in the league phase. One of seven changes to the XI that defeated Bayern on Matchday 5, Madueke hit a scintillating opener on 25 minutes when he held off Joaquin Seys deep in Club Brugge’s half, drove forward and thundered a long-range strike into the top-right corner.

The hosts twice came close through Aleksandar Stankovic later in the first half, but Arsenal responded emphatically after the break – Madueke heading in Martin Zubimendi’s cross on 47 minutes before Martinelli cut in to curl a superb third nine minutes later. The return of Gabriel Jesus, out of action since January, added further sweetness for the Gunners, UEFA reports.

Meanwhile, Nico O’Reilly’s instinctive strike and Erling Haaland’s cool penalty sealed a comeback victory for the Man City.

Real Madrid enjoyed the brighter opening, Vinicius Junior dinking wide early on before Rodrygo applied a neat finish to a sweeping move just ahead of the half-hour.

Pep Guardiola’s men were behind for a little over seven minutes, levelling when O’Reilly pounced after Thibaut Courtois was unable to hold a Joško Gvardiol header. With half-time approaching, Haaland marked his 50th Champions League start with a calm spot kick following a foul on the Norwegian international by Antonio Rüdiger.

Substitute Endrick came closest to conjuring up an equaliser, but nodded against the crossbar late on.

Elsewhere, Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo found a late equalizer to deny Newcastle a win on their travels in Germany.

Anthony Gordon’s fine second-half performance had looked like enough only for Grimaldo to run into the area and smash past Aaron Ramsdale with two minutes remaining.

Leverkusen led when captain Robert Andrich’s header hit Bruno Guimarães on the back and deflected in, Gordon levelling by drilling in a penalty after Nick Woltemade had been fouled.

The England man then crossed for teenager Lewis Miley to head in but Grimaldo had the last word.

Paris Saint-Germain were held to a goalless draw in Bilabao as Athletic Club became the first team in this season’s Champions League to prevent the holders from scoring.

Unai Simon was the hero for the hosts, producing a string of big saves including two point-blank stops against Senny Mayulu and a late attempt by fellow Spaniard Fabian Ruiz.

Bardley Barcola came closest for Paris when he raced in behind but his shot crashed back off the crossbar as it remained all square at San Mames.

In another match, Bodo/Glimt twice battled back from behind to take a spirited point away at Dortmund with a 2-2 draw.

Paris St Germain played out their first goalless draw of the season at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday night but stayed in the driving seat for direct qualification for the Champions League last-16 after a string of fine saves by home goalkeeper Unai Simon denied the defending champions.

Luis Enrique’s side had the clearest chances after being under pressure in the first half, but Simon produced several superb saves and Ousmane Dembele’s absence was once again felt up front by the visitors.

The result left PSG in third place in the 36-team league with 13 points from six games while Bilbao are 28th on five points, two points from the playoff places.

PSG next travel to Sporting and Bilbao visit Atalanta.

Juventus registered their first home win of this season's Champions League but were made to battle before overcoming Pafos 2-0 at home on Wednesday thanks to second-half goals from Weston McKennie and Jonathan David.

The sides were level on points going into the game and Pafos proved more than a match for their more illustrious Italian opponents for long periods, but Juventus earned a second successive win to boost their European hopes.

Juventus are 17th in the standings on nine points while Pafos are 26th on six points, with the top eight teams qualifying for the knockout stage and the next 16 going into the playoffs for the other eight spots. Agencies

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