Manchester City and Arsenal held in Champions League thrillers by Real Madrid and Bayern Munich with Harry Kane starring
Record winners Real Madrid and title holders Manchester City have played out a thrilling 3-3 draw, while Harry Kane continued to haunt Arsenal with Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final first legs.
City led early on Wednesday (AEST) from Bernardo Silva’s clever free-kick and went back on top 3-2 thanks to defender Josko Gvardiol in the 71st, five minutes after a stunner from Phil Foden at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Spanish capital.
But Madrid fought back twice in the 200th Champions League match for their Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti.
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It is the third consecutive encounter between the clubs in the knockout stages of the competition. Madrid eliminated City in the semi-finals in 2022, while City got the best of Madrid at the same stage last year. Both teams went on to win the title after eliminating their rivals.
The last time Arsenal and Bayern played, the German club won 10-2 on aggregate after two 5-1 wins in the round of 16 in 2017. There was, however, a sense that things would be very different this time in London as Arsenal are top of the Premier League while Bayern are having their worst Bundesliga season in more than a decade and ceded the title race to Bayer Leverkusen.
Bukayo Saka fired the Gunners ahead in the 12th minute, their former player Serge Gnabry levelled in the 18th, and ex-Tottenham skipper Kane netted for the sixth time at Emirates Stadium with a 32nd-minute penalty to put Bayern 2-1 up.
However, Leandro Trossard salvaged a draw for the hosts with 14 minutes left.
There is now all to play for in the return legs next week in Manchester and Munich, with the winners meeting in the semi-finals.
The matches took place amid beefed up security after an Islamic State terror threat via a media outlet linked to the group.
That will also concern the other first leg matches on Thursday. Paris Saint-Germain are at home to Barcelona and Atletico Madrid host Borussia Dortmund.
With AP.
