Ivan Rakitic scored two second half goals to hand holders Barcelona a 2-0 win at BATE Borisov in Group E of the Champions League. Elsewhere in the
ADVERTISEMENTIvan Rakitic scored two second half goals to hand holders Barcelona a 2-0 win at BATE Borisov in Group E of the Champions League.
Elsewhere in the Group Admir Mehmedi scored in the 86th minute as Bayer Leverkusen snatched a 4-4 draw with Roma in a thrilling contest in Germany.
The result puts Leverkusen second, three points behind Barca – Roma prop up the bottom of the group.
Arsenal finally got their European campaign off the mark when Olivier Giroud and Mezut Ozil scored late in the second half to hand the Gunners a 2-0 win over tournament favourites Bayern Munich.
The Bavarians remain Group F leaders but are now level on points with Olympiakos who emerged 1-0 winners at Dinamo Zagreb – Aide Brown Ideye with the only goal in the Croatian capital.
Arsenal are third three points off the pace.
Chelsea’s unremarkable season continued as Jose Mourinho’s boys were held to a goalless stalemate at Dynamo Kyiv.
FC Porto, who won the title in 2004 with Mourinho at the helm, lead Group G following their 2-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv. Vincent Aboubakar and Yacine Brahimi on target for the Portuguese outfit that have a two point advantage over Dynamo and are three clear of Chelsea.
Zenit St. Petersburg maintained their 100 percent record in Group H with victory over Lyon.
Artem Dzyuba, Hulk and Danny all on the scoresheet for the Russians.
Valencia stay second after seeing off the challenge of Ghent 2-1.
Lasse Nielsen and Stefan Mitrovic both scored own goals to hand their Spanish rivals the win.