LONDON: Serge Gnabry scored four goals and Robert Lewandowski struck twice as a clinical Bayern Munich trounced Tottenham 7-2 away to seize control of Champions League B Group yesterday.
The evening had begun well for Tottenham with Son Heung-min scoring in the 12th minute but Joshua Kimmich’s superb effort levelled things up in a rip-roaring start.
Robert Lewandowski’s 55th Champions League goal gave the visitors the lead on the stroke of halftime and Gnabry piled on the misery for the hosts with a sizzling solo effort in the 53rd minute before slotting in his second shortly afterwards.
Harry Kane’s penalty restored some hope for Tottenham on the hour but Bayern were not finished and former Arsenal winger Gnabry completed his hat-trick in the 83rd minute.
The suffering was not over for last year’s runners-up though as Lewandowski and Gnabry struck in the 87th and 88th minutes.
Bayern are top of Group B with six points from two games with Tottenham on one.
Manchester City made it two wins out of two in Group C after goals from substitutes Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden gave Pep Guardiola’s side a 2-0 victory over Dinamo Zagreb.
The Croatians frustrated the Premier League champions with some excellent defending in the first half and all City could manage from their domination was Ilkay Gundogan’s shot against the bar in the 21st minute.
The introduction of Sterling increased the tempo and width of City’s play and it was the England international who broke the deadlock in the 66th minute, turning in a low cross from Riyad Mahrez after a superb diagonal pass from Rodri.
Dinamo tried their luck in the final stages but were caught on the counter in stoppage time with Sterling breaking and slipping the ball wide to Foden who confidently drove home.
City move on to six points from their opening two games after winning their first match 3-0 at Shakhtar Donetsk, while Dinamo have three points.
Argentinian striker Gonzalo Higuain scored one goal and made another, while Cristiano Ronaldo added the third, as Juventus cruised to a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen to go top of Group D. A goal in deep into stoppage time by substitute Manor Solomon snatched all three points for Shakhtar Donetsk as they beat Atalanta 2-1 in their Group C clash in Milan.
Fightback
The Italians were looking to bounce back from an embarrassing 4-0 opening-day defeat to Dinamo Zagreb, while Donetsk were also looking for their first points of the campaign, having been beaten 3-0 at home by Manchester City.
With their home ground in Bergamo falling short of Uefa’s standards, Atalanta have been forced to play their European games at the San Siro stadium in Milan, some 60 kilometres from their home.
Atalanta missed a golden chance to take the lead when Josip Ilicic’s 16th-minute penalty was saved by Andriy Pyatov, but the goalkeeper failed to cut out a cross 12 minutes later and Colombian striker Duvan Zapata headed his side in front.
Shakhtar hit back just before halftime, Junior Moraes rounding the keeper to slot home the ball past the despairing slide of Jose Luis Palomino, and Brazilian midfielder Marlos slammed a free kick off the crossbar just before the break.
The visitors had looked content to absorb Atalanta’s late pressure and settle for a point but a counter-attack deep into stoppage time ended with Solomon picking up fellow substitute Dodo’s pass and rifling home the winner for Shakhtar.
Atletico Madrid’s 126-million-euro forward Joao Felix scored his first goal in the Champions League to help his side earn a 2-0 win at Lokomotiv Moscow in Group D.
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