Champions League: Bayern Dominates Barcelona As Matip Late Header Dents Young Ajax Side

Posted by Samson Kankan Featured, Latest Headlines, Sports News Wednesday, September 14th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Goals from Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane helped Bayern Munich secure a 2-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League to ruin Robert Lewandoski’s return to the old side.

Lewandowski departed the Bundesliga champions this summer and endured a difficult night back at Allianz Arena after failing to make the most of several chances in the Group C clash.

Following a goalless first half, Julian Nagelsmann’s men turned it on early in the second period with Hernandez heading home Joshua Kimmich’s corner before fine play by Jamal Musiala set up Sane to fire home in the 54th minute.

In another match, Joel Matip’s 89th minute header kickstarter Liverpool’s season as a 2-1 win over Ajax at Anfield put the Reds back in the running to reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

Last season’s Champions League finalists were much more like their old selves but still needed a late winner from an unlikely source after Mohammed Kudus had canceled out Mohamed Salah’s opener.

Victory takes Liverpool level on three points with Ajax and Napoli, who will travel to Rangers on Wednesday in the other game in Group A.

Meanwhile, Edin Dzeko inspired Inter Milan to a 2-0 victory at Viktoria Plzen earlier in the day in the group.

With Romelu Lukaku still sidelined with a thigh issue, Dzeko stepped up for the Serie A side with a fine curled opener after 20 minutes and assisted Denzel Dumfries to wrap up the points in the 70th minutes

Bottom-of-the-table Plzen had already been reduced to 10 men by this point after Pavel Bucha received his marching orders on the hour mark.

Atletico Madrid were on the receiving end of a late show at Bayer Leverkusen in Group B.

The La Liga side had struck twice in stoppage time to beat Porto last week but saw Robert Andrich and Moussa Diaby net in the final six minutes of the encounter in Germany to secure a 2-0 win.

Club Brugge are top of the group after a stunning 4-0 victory away to Porto. Ferran Jutgla put the visitors in front with quarter of an hour played and Kamal Sowah, Andreas Skov Olsen and Antonio Nusa were on target in the second half to earn the Belgians an excellent win.

Napoli’s game at Rangers was postponed until Wednesday because of limited police resources in Scotland following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.