LONDON: It doesn’t seem to matter which shirt Robert Lewandowski is wearing — Bayern Munich just keep getting the better of Barcelona either way.
Bayern extended their recent dominance over the Spanish giant with a 2-0 win in the Champions League on Tuesday to show they can cope quite well without Lewandowski, who left to join Barcelona in the offseason.
It started out as a friendly homecoming as Lewandowski walked down the familiar steps of the Allianz Arena players’ tunnel before kickoff, hugging every one of his former teammates along the way.
Bayern’s players didn’t extend the same level of hospitality once the game started.
After Lewandowski missed several good chances to score in the first half, Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane scored within a five-minute span in the second as Bayern took control of Group C with two wins in two games.
“Luck wasn’t on his side,” Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer said about Lewandowski. “For Lewi, it’s an emotional game, here, a bit like coming home.”
Sporting Lisbon also moved to six points in Group D after netting two late goals to beat Tottenham 2-0 at home. The other group game between Marseille and Eintracht Frankfurt was marred by fan disturbances before kickoff, forcing riot police to intervene when opposing supporters launched flares and fireworks at each other. Frankfurt won the game 1-0 thanks to a first-half goal from Jesper Lindstrøm.
Liverpool needed an 89th-minute goal to get their first win of the European campaign. Joel Matip headed home a corner to give last year’s runner-up a 2-1 home win over Ajax, bouncing back from a 4-1 loss to Napoli in the opening round. Napoli’s game at Rangers was postponed until Wednesday because of limited police resources in Scotland
Read more on arabnews.com
arabnews.com
