Arsenal and Manchester City secure wins as Champions League group stage continues
Arsenal beat Slavia Prague 2-0 and Manchester City defeated RB Leipzig 1-0, while other matches saw goals from PSV, Club Brugge, Dortmund, Real Betas and Porto.
Arsenal opened the scoring against Slavia Prague after Noni Maduke slotted a pass from Viktor Gyökeres, and Viktor Gyökeres added a second to give the Gunners a 2-0 lead. Mikel Arteta said the squad needed contributions from all players and hinted at a possible return for William Saliba.
Manchester City took the lead in Leipzig when Castello Lukeba inadvertently put Nico O’Reilly’s cross into his own net. The Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was criticized for allowing Ridle Baku’s cross to slip past, but later made a key save to deny Christoph Baumgartner.
Other group-stage action included PSV equalising against Club Brugge through a deflected strike by Kodai Sano, and Fabio Silva scoring for Borussia Dortmund after a blocked shot by Jobe Bellingham. Porto’s Jan Bednarek headed the opening goal against Napoli, while Scott McTominay later levelled the match for Napoli.
In the half-time snapshot, Arsenal led Slavia Prague 2-0, Manchester City led RB Leipzig 1-0, PSV trailed Club Brugge 0-1, and Porto and Napoli were tied 1-1. The matches featured a mix of own goals, deflections and early breakthroughs across the eight simultaneous fixtures.