A goal and an assist from Harry Kane weren’t enough for Bayern Munich to beat Arsenal. Kane’s England teammate Declan Rice scored a second-half equalizer for last season’s runner-up to secure a 2-2 draw at six-time winner Bayern in a matchup of two European heavyweights in the Champions League on Wednesday. Rice traded passes with Viktor Gyökeres before finding the target eight minutes from time.
Kane converted a penalty earlier in the second half to increase his total to 16 goals in 23 career matches against Arsenal, having scored every season against the London club from 2014-15 to 2023-24 — mostly with Tottenham. Kane also sent Alphonso Davies in on goal when Bayern responded to Eberechi Eze’s opener for Arsenal. It was Kane’s 10th straight Champions League match with a goal — moving within one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of scoring in 11 consecutive games (set in 2017 and 2018).
"We had some good moments, just not enough over the full 90 (minutes)," Kane said. Elsewhere, Real Madrid had a more straightforward 4-1 victory over RB Leipzig after needing three goals in the final 10 minutes of a victory over Roma last week. Madrid faces Barcelona in the Clásico on Sunday.
Earlier, Manchester United’s crisis deepened after a 4-1 debacle at competition newcomer Como, leaving coach Michael Carrick at risk. Also, Aston Villa moved into second in the league-phase standings with a 3-1 win over Norwegian club Viking. Unai Emery’s team has won all three of its matches, scored 12 and conceded three to trail only two-time defending champion Paris Saint-Germain on goals scored.
In other results, it was: Inter Milan 1, Shakhtar Donetsk 0; Sporting Lisbon 2, LASK 3; Lille 2, Galatasaray 4; Club Brugge 3, Lens 0; and Real Betis 1, Feyenoord 0. Madrid and Betis — which scored through a penalty kick from Isco — have also won all three of their matches. Austrian champion LASK earned its first Champions League victory.
Real Madrid is involved in an ongoing battle with the Spanish league over alleged refereeing controversies but José Mourinho’s team should have little to complain about after a complete performance against Leipzig. Bernardo Silva’s first goal for Real Madrid came just before halftime as the former Manchester City midfielder prodded in from close range after goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt couldn’t quite gather a shot from Arda Güler. Güler added the second after the break.
Kylian Mbappé made it 3-0 with his 73rd career Champions League goal before Tidiam Gomis pulled one back for Leipzig, then former Leipzig forward Yan Diomande restored Madrid’s three-goal advantage. United has now been outscored 6-1 in its last two European matches. Nico Paz scored twice and also set up another score for Cesc Fabregas’ Como, which was playing in the fourth division of Italian soccer just seven years ago.
"We got outplayed for most of the game so it was a very disappointing night," United midfielder Youri Tielemans said. "It’s everything. You can be good tactically but if the effort is not good (then it won’t work) and vice versa.
You need to be good at everything and tonight we were poor. It comes down to that." United was already in turmoil, with defender Lisandro Martinez last week calling out the club’s hierarchy over its offseason recruitment, with director of football Jason Wilcox the apparent target of his criticism. In January, Ruben Amorim had a fallout with Wilcox that swiftly led to the manager being fired after just 14 months in the job.
Now Carrick could be on the way out. In the other early game, Galatasaray won at Lille with Victor Osimhen scoring against one of his former clubs. Paz has been auditioning to take over Lionel Messi’s playmaker spot with Argentina and his performance against United was a case in point.
At the tiny Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium, Paz put Como ahead two minutes in with a curling shot from the edge of the area when Harry Maguire allowed him some space. United became the first English team to concede in the opening two minutes of consecutive major European matches after Pablo Barrios scored in the opening minute of Atlético Madrid’s 2-0 win last week. Tasos Douvikas then took a pass from Paz before lobbing in over goalkeeper Senne Lammens for his third goal in three Champions League matches.
For Como’s third, Paz went in virtually uncontested before shooting around Lammens. Center back Jacobo Ramon scored Como’s fourth. Joshua Zirkzee pulled one back for United in stoppage time.
United has won only one of its last 11 Champions League away matches. Como moved up to ninth in the standings, while United dropped to 20th. Reporting by The Associated Press.
