Arsenal stormed to a third successive Champions League victory by blowing away Atletico Madrid 4-0 with a devastating second-half at the Emirates Stadium.
What had been a compelling clash with little between the sides became an Arsenal rout with goals by Gabriel, Gabriel Martinelli and a brace from Viktor Gyokeres leaving Diego Simeone’s side shell-shocked.
Shortly after Julian Alvarez hit the crossbar for the visitors, Gabriel broke the deadlock by heading in a free kick from Declan Rice in the 57th minute.
Martinelli finished off a sweeping move seven minutes later and Gyokeres then prodded his first goal of the night via a deflection as Arsenal ran riot, the Swede ending a nine-game scoring drought for club and country.
RM Block
Gyokeres soon bundled in his second as Atletico were again unable to deal with Arsenal’s set piece.
The victory extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run to nine games, putting them on nine points in the group phase and well on their way to qualifying for the knockout phase.
At Villarreal, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland extended his remarkable scoring streak to 12 straight matches as Pep Guardiola’s side recorded a comfortable 2-0 victory.
Bernardo Silva also got on the scoresheet during a dominant first half from the visitors at La Ceramica.
What we learned from Munster’s emphatic win over Leinster
City side took the lead in the 17th minute, when Rico Lewis, marauding down the right, delivered a precise pass into the box for Haaland to fire home a first-time effort from the edge of the six-yard box.
They continued to press and doubled their lead in the 40th minute, again thanks to an assist by Lewis from the right, crossing to captain Silva who headed in unmarked from close range.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United impressed against Benfica at St James’ Park where Harvey Barnes was twice on target after Anthony Gordon’s opener for the home side.
In Tuesday’s other fixtures, Barcelona subjected a 10-man Olympiacos to a 6-1 hammering, with braces from both Marcus Rashford and Fermín López, while PSV downed Napoli 6-2. Paris Saint-Germain got a win on the road against Leverkusen, Robert Andrick and Illia Cabarnyi picking up red cards for either side, and Inter put four goals past hosts Union Saint-Gilloise to no reply. There was also an away win for Dortmund, who bested Copenhagen 4-2, while Kairat and Pafos played out a nil-all draw in Almaty.
