Arsenal and Olympique de Marseille set aside their poor league form so far this season with valuable home wins in their Champions League group matches on Wednesday.
Arsenal edged Greek side Olympiakos 2-1, while Marseille, who have just one league win all season, pulled off an impressive 3-0 victory at home to German champions Borussia Dortmund.
Marseille top group F with six points from their two matches, while Arsenal are second on four.
Elsewhere, champions Barcelona eased to a 5-0 win away at BATE Borisov, while AC Milan — who grabbed a last-gasp 2-2 draw with Barca in their opening group match — overcame Czech debutants Viktoria Plzen 2-0 at the San Siro.
Chelsea looked like they were on their way to making it two wins from two as they took a 1-0 lead away at Valencia, veteran midfielder Frank Lampard scoring an excellent goal, his 20th in the competition.
However, Valencia forced a deserved draw four minutes from time as Salomon Kalou, who had just come on for Lampard, was penalized for handball and Roberto Soldado made no mistake from the spot.
Lampard said that he liked nothing more than a challenge, having found his position under scrutiny after losing his starting place in recent games.
“Yes, it’s tough when you lose your place, but it’s happened to me before and I have always risen to such a challenge,” the 33-year-old said.
Lampard’s performance earned praise from Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, who had reacted angrily on Tuesday at a question as to whether he had a future at the club.
“It was a good performance from Lampard and there is nothing more to say,” the Portuguese coach said. “He is one of the best players in our squad and I was very happy with him. The team worked well collectively and individually, and so I was very happy.”
Arsenal made a roaring start against Olympiakos, easing into a 2-0 lead thanks to goals by 18-year-old Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain — the third-youngest scorer for Arsenal in Champions League history — and Andre Santos.
However, some dreadful Gunners defending allowed Olympiakos back into the match six minutes later as David Fuster made them pay.
Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose father, former England international Mark Chamberlain, was in the crowd, said he had reveled in playing at such a high level just months after playing in League One.
“It was a really good experience,” he said. “It’s a big step up, but I want to play at the top level and I have plenty more time to play in the Champions League. It’s my first time in the Champions League and I’m glad we’ve achieved three points.”
Marseille owed their victory to Ghanaian star Andre Ayew, who scored a double, the first a fine shot from the edge of the box and the second a penalty.
Loic Remy netted in between for Didier Deschamps’ side.
“To have six points after two games is good,” Marseille coach Deschamps told Canal+. “In the last two seasons, we had zero points [after two games], but to qualify you need a minimum of 10.”
“We’ve made a good start, but we’re not there yet,” he said.
Barcelona had wrapped up the three points by halftime as they outclassed their Belarusian hosts.
The hosts hardly helped their cause with an own-goal to make it 1-0 and their goalkeeper Alyaksandr Gutor dropping the ball onto Lionel Messi’s head for their third.
The Argentine maestro added another early in the second half with a rasping drive to make it 14 goals in 10 matches this season.
Milan had made heavy weather of the first half against their Czech opponents, but goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antonio Cassano in the second half gave them the breathing space they required.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS