LONDON : Barcelona recovered from an early scare to beat Galatasaray 4-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Arsenal cruised to a 3-0 victory over Lille and Bayern Munich were held to a dramatic 3-3 draw by Norwegian side Viking.
Manchester United’s struggles continued with a 2-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid, extending their winless run to five games and increasing the pressure on coach Michael Carrick.
Barcelona’s perfect start to the season was threatened when Aleksey Batrakov put Galatasaray ahead in Istanbul, with the Turkish side later having a second goal ruled out for a narrow offside.
Joao Cancelo equalised shortly before halftime, however, and Barcelona took control after the break, with Fermin Lopez, Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi completing the comeback to give the Spanish champions a 10th consecutive win in all competitions.
“In the second half, we dominated the game,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said. “We have to play like this, control the game, move the ball. This is our quality. This is our strength, and we have to show our level.”
Bayern looked set for victory after recovering from a two-goal halftime deficit against Viking, with Harry Kane scoring twice and Luis Diaz putting the German side ahead 3-2.
But Michael Olise was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in quick succession, the second for throwing the ball at opponent Zlatko Tripic while the referee was still dealing with his first offence.
Tripic then crossed for Herman Haugen to head home a 90th-minute equaliser, earning Viking a draw in their first Champions League home match since 1992.
“We were dominant, but at the moment it feels like every chance for the opposition leads to a goal,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said.
UNITED’S WOES CONTINUE
Manchester United’s difficult season took another turn for the worse as Atletico scored in the opening minute through Pablo Barrios before Ademola Lookman added a second in the second half at the Metropolitano.
United have won only two games in all competitions this season, and defender Lisandro Martinez criticised the club’s recruitment after the latest defeat.
“I have to control myself a lot. But sometimes it’s a reflection in the mirror of how is our club at the moment,” the Argentina international told Amazon Prime.
“We did a fantastic season last season. And now we expect more from the top, from up, to bring more players to compete because many teams bring many players as well, and today also Atletico they have an amazing team and they deserved to win today.”
Martinez acknowledged that the players also needed to improve but said the club had to build a stronger squad to compete at the highest level.
“I expect more from our technical director. I would have to be honest, as the players, we have to do more, but it’s just important when you make a strong squad to be ready for this kind of night,” he said.
Arsenal, meanwhile, produced a comfortable performance against Lille at the Emirates Stadium. Jurrien Timber opened the scoring in the 64th minute before substitute Bukayo Saka made an immediate impact, setting up Eberechi Eze’s goal and scoring himself within six minutes of coming on.
TRESOLDI SHINES IN BRUGGE THRILLER
Inter Milan suffered a surprise 4-3 home defeat by Club Brugge, with Nicolo Tresoldi scoring a hat-trick to underline his growing reputation as one of Europe’s promising young forwards.
The Italian-born Germany Under-21 international opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the first half before adding two more goals after the break. Lautaro Martinez scored twice for Inter, but the Italian side could not avoid defeat.
“It was my dream as a kid to play here,” Tresoldi told broadcaster Proximus Belgium. “I was here in the stands as a kid watching Milan and tonight I played against Inter. It can’t get any better. I was shaking before the penalty, but it was the perfect moment.”
Napoli also suffered defeat, losing 3-1 away to Villarreal despite taking an early lead through Amir Rrahmani.
Elsewhere, Azerbaijan’s Sabah secured their first win in the league phase with a 2-0 victory over Slavia Prague in Baku. Second-half goals from Kaheem Parris and Joy-Lance Mickels sealed the result for the club, which was founded just nine years ago.
Sporting Lisbon beat Lens 2-0 through goals from Luis Suarez and Issa Doumbia, while Leipzig defeated PSV Eindhoven 1-0 thanks to Brajan Gruda’s first Champions League goal.
Leipzig goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt also saved a penalty from PSV’s Ivan Perisic to help his side recover from a heavy opening defeat by newcomers Como.
