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European football: Olmo double takes Barca top; Díaz fires up Bayern’s late rally

  • Dortmund hold on to beat Bayer Leverkusen

  • Leão strike gives Milan 1-0 win over Lazio

Barcelona recovered from an early setback to secure a 3-1 victory over Alavés, with first-half goals from Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo and a late second for the latter sealing the win at the Camp Nou.

The win lifts the defending La Liga champions to the top of the table on 34 points, two ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who have a game in hand at Girona on Sunday.

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© Photograph: Alberto Estévez/EPA

© Photograph: Alberto Estévez/EPA

© Photograph: Alberto Estévez/EPA

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Champions League review: Arsenal erupt, PSV stun Liverpool and Benfica revive

Arsenal rout Bayern to stake a claim as Europe’s best, Liverpool spiral again, Benfica revive under Mourinho, and Estevão dazzles on a crowded week of stars

Bayern Munich’s unbeaten run and claim to be the best team in European football were both punctured at the Emirates. Arsenal were rampant against an opponent who have handed them so much pain in the past. The Gunners opened the scoring through their habitual set-piece goal, Jurriën Timber fulfilling the role of the absent Gabriel Magalhães. Lennart Karl, the 17-year-old, showed off his chops with a fine goal; from within Bayern have found the player they desired when they were thwarted in moving for Florian Wirtz. After that, Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze took control in midfield, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli scoring the goals, the latter a humiliation of Manuel Neuer’s sweeper-keeper stylings. Amid the fug of the extended Champions League group-stage format, where matches between elite clubs are routine rather than novelty, this was still a statement victory. “I think they had an incredible match against, in my opinion, the best team in Europe,” Mikel Arteta said of his players. That status surely now lies with his team: Arsenal top the group-stage table with a 100% record.

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© Composite: Shutterstock

© Composite: Shutterstock

© Composite: Shutterstock

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Declan Rice cranks up volume to show he is Europe’s best player right now | Nick Ames

The driving force behind the continent’s standout team resembled four players in one as Arsenal put their old nemesis Bayern Munich to the sword

Shortly before the goal that left Arsenal’s supremacy in no doubt, Harry Kane embarked upon a lonely jaunt up their left flank. Much like the majority of Bayern Munich’s attacking endeavours, it ended almost as soon as it had begun. In common with a sizeable percentage it was terminated by Declan Rice, who thundered in and took the ball cleanly with a hooked right foot to a cheer that rivalled the night’s loudest.

The Emirates Stadium crowd was always going to enjoy that one, as Rice knew full well. He responded in kind with a roar and an exhortation to the gallery, perhaps to his teammates too: keep it going, crank up that volume, let’s see this thing through. Rice is the best player in Europe right now and, with that, there are standards to drive.

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

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Arsenal go top as Martinelli puts finishing touch to win against Bayern Munich

This was billed as a clash of two of the best teams in Europe and for most of a cold evening in north London it felt like it. An absorbing game that ebbed and flowed throughout had Bayern Munich’s rising teenager Lennart Karl cancel out Jurrien Timber’s opening goal from a corner before substitutes Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli sealed a deserved win for the home side. It maintains their 100% record in the Champions League and sends them top of the table.

Harry Kane let it slip in the buildup that scoring against Arsenal gives him “a bit more joy” than any other club. But the England striker with 27 goals for his club to his name this season barely had a sniff as a Bayern Munich side that had also won their first four matches in the Champions League group stage and had been unbeaten in 21 previous games this season were taught a lesson. A place in the knockout stages now seems a mere formality.

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

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Arsenal 3-1 Bayern Munich: Champions League – live reaction

⚽ Champions League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off
Live scoreboard | Latest table | And you can mail Michael

Mike Arteta, Arsenal manager, speaks to TNT about his selection choices:

The headaches are going to be a little bit harder. Cristhian Mosquera and Myles Lewis-Skelly deserve to play. We have to manage the squad and the load that we have. We have a game every three games.

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

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Arsenal in ‘different universe’ to Bayern Munich due to lack of European success

  • ‘We are not there yet,’ Mikel Arteta said on club’s standing

  • Bayern visit Arsenal in Champions League on Wednesday

Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal remain in a “different universe” to European heavyweights such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich given they have yet to win the Champions League.

The Premier League leaders head into their meeting with Bayern at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday having won all four matches so far in the league phase and are the only team yet to concede a goal.

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© Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA

© Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA

© Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA

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