Arsenal, last season’s runners-up, snatched a late equaliser from Declan Rice to earn a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in the Champions League yesterday.
Eberechi Eze scored for Arsenal after coming in for injured Bukayo Saka but Alphonso Davies equalised for Bayern after a magnificent pass from Harry Kane, reports AFP.
Kane gave Bayern an early lead with a second-half penalty but his England team-mate Rice levelled matters eight minutes from time to earn Arsenal a point.
The Gunners have seven points from three games in the league phase – two points better than Bayern.
Bayern were missing in-form winger Michael Olise, Germany captain Joshua Kimmich and midfielder Jamal Musiala. Coach Vincent Kompany had been a doubt with illness but was in his seat in the dugout.
“We looked dangerous, we scored the goal and we had a moment there where we could have put the game to bed,” Kane told DAZN.
“Overall a draw was probably a fair result… “There’s a lot of games and we’ve got players with injuries and players not playing tonight so we get the point and move on.”
But England captain Kane was again in top form ahead of next week’s Ballon d’Or presentation in his home city of London to make sure Bayern remained a threat to Arsenal’s mean defence despite the absentees.
Kane’s penalty in the second half was his 16th goal in 23 appearances versus Arsenal and took him to 10 games in a row scoring in the Champions League. Kane is one short of Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 11 consecutive goals for Real Madrid.
“I had a great year last year, I’m very proud of it. “It would be amazing to win the Ballon d’Or but there’s nothing I can do, the voting was a long time ago, I just have to wait to the nite and see what happens,” Kane said of the honour.
It was the second time Arsenal had dropped points in 12 games in all competitions this season.
“I think it was a very good game from both sides,” Arsenal forward Kai Havertz said.
‘We can be proud with our performance, especially considering it’s anything but easy to hold your own here. Bayern are one of the best teams in Europe.”
Early Saka punch
Saka went down clutching his thigh after eight minutes, instantly gesturing toward the sidelines, and Arsenal were dealt an early blow.
Bayern had played Norwegian opposition in their two previous Champions League games and the regular Bundesliga winners appeared to struggle with Arsenal’s toughness as Mikel Arteta’s side pinned them back in the opening stages.
Twenty-five minutes in Odegaard threaded an easy pass across Bayern’s defence and into the path of the onrushing Eze, who collected and stroked the ball past Manuel Neuer.
Eze’s superbly timed run caught off the hosts and they seemed even more stunned when VAR overruled the linesman’s offside call to award the goal.
All the build-up to the match had centred around Kane’s chances of winning the Ballon d’Or and he showed why he is one of the favourites by setting up Davies’s equaliser 10 minutes later.
Kane saw Davies running and threaded the ball through the midfield and around Gabriel for the Canadian winger to guide the ball into the bottom corner.
The hosts were on the front foot now and a few minutes later Ezri Konsa was booked for pulling down Kane on a Bayern counter.
After the restart it was Neuer and David Raya who exchanged great saves, the Bayern captain tipping Bruno Guimaraes’s header onto the crossbar and the Spaniard preventing Dayot Upamecano.
There were attacking rushes from both sides but Kane would prove key again as Bayern claimed the lead.
Kane’s strike from the edge of the penalty box struck the arm of Jurrien Timber, with the referee instantly pointing to the spot before Kane stepped up and buried his kick.
Bayern appeared in charge but the game swung again when substitute Viktor Gyokeres, late on, put in a smart cross to Rice, who thumped in an equaliser.
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