■ Carrasco halts Bayern’s run

■ Thrilling draw at Celtic Park

■ Walcott strikes for Gunners

Barcelona battled back from a goal down and scored twice in the second half to beat hosts Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-1 in their Champions League Group C match yesterday despite the absence of the injured Lionel Messi.

Second-half goals from substitute Arda Turan and Gerard Pique gave the Spaniards their second win in two group matches to top the standings, after their opening 7-0 demolition of Celtic.

The hard-working Germans had taken a surprising lead, scoring against the run of play, with Thorgan Hazard slotting in to complete a quick break for the home team on 34 minutes.

Barcelona  dominated the game but were made to work hard for their second group win that put them on six points. Gladbach, who managed just one shot on target, have zero, having lost both matches so far.

In the other Group C match, in Glasgow, Pep Guardiola witnessed the end to his perfect record with Manchester City as his Premier League leaders had to come from behind three times to earn a 3-3 draw at Celtic in a dazzling encounter.

Guardiola’s men were taken aback by the fevered atmosphere at Celtic Park as they were denied an 11th straight win which would have equalled Tottenham Hotspur’s 1960-61 landmark as the best start to a season by any English club.

The inspired Scottish champions, unrecognisable from the side humbled 7-0 at Barcelona in their opening game, sniffed a sensation after Moussa Dembele scored at the start of each half and when Raheem Sterling netted a first-half own goal.

Yet, City simply refused to be subdued, responding with strikes from Fernandinho, the excellent Sterling and Nolito and coming close to a late winner before settling for the point that moves them into second place in the group on four points behind Barcelona.

Bayern Munich’s perfect start to the season under coach Carlo Ancelotti also came to an end as Jannick Carrasco’s first-half goal gave Atletico Madrid a 1-0 home victory in Group D.

Bayern were aiming to make it nine wins in a row in all competitions, but were derailed by an Atletico side that took a deserved lead and remain unbeaten.

Atletico seized the initiative when Bayern’s Xabi Alonso gave the ball away in midfield, allowing the Spaniards to counter.

Antoine Griezmann sent Carrasco through on goal and the Belgian winger struck a low left-footed shot past a helpless Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and in off the post.

Atletico could have made it 2-0 with six minutes remaining, but Griezmann drove his penalty against the bar after Arturo Vidal fouled Filipe Luis in the area.

Theo Walcottt scored twice before half-time to help Arsenal beat FC Basel 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium and move joint top of Group A with Paris SG.

The England forward twice combined brilliantly with Alexis Sanchez as Arsenal overwhelmed the Swiss to stretch their unbeaten run in all competitions to eight matches.

Basel keeper Tomas Vaclik kept his side in the hunt with a series of fine stops and although Basel offered more threat after the break the damage was already done.

In southern Italy, Gonzalo Higuain was a distant memory as Napoli produced a rousing display to beat last season’s quarter-finalists Benfica 4-2.

Midfielder Marek Hamsik headed Napoli in front after 21 minutes before a devastating spell of three goals in eight minutes early in the second half left the Portuguese champions reeling.

Dries Mertens curled in a free-kick, Arkadiusz Milik swept home a penalty and Mertens struck again just before the hour.

Benfica enjoyed a later flurry with Goncalo Guedes and Eduardo Salvio making the scoreline more respectable.

Napoli, unbeaten in all competitions this season, have six points from their two games in Group B while Benfica have one.

 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.