London: Mesut Ozil showed his playmaking pedigree to orchestrate Arsenal's 2-0 victory over Napoli while a late Cesc Fabregas header gave Barcelona a hard-fought 1-0 win at 10-man Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Both sides have six points from their opening two games, as do Atletico Madrid with their Turkey midfielder Arda Turan netting an 86th minute winner in a 2-1 victory at Porto.
Julian Draxler's sweet strike just after the break was enough to beat Basel and maintain Schalke 04's perfect start.
Borussia Dortmund's Poland striker Robert Lewandowski scored twice in s 3-0 demolition of Olympique Marseille as did Chelsea's Brazilian Ramires to get their campaign up and running in a 4-0 win at Steaua Bucharest after a shock opening home defeat by Basel.
There was also late drama in Amsterdam with Stefano Denswil heading Ajax ahead in the last minute, only for Mario Balotelli to level with a penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time in a 1-1 draw.
Ozil has quickly impressed since his big-money move from Real Madrid last month and he again oozed class at the Emirates as Arsenal took control of Group F by easing past a Napoli side tasting defeat for the first time under coach Rafael Benitez.
The German international opened his account for the London club with a sweet strike from the edge of the box after eight minutes. He then set up Oliver Giroud for a second soon after in a display that left manager Arsene Wenger searching for superlatives.
"Ozil was absolutely amazing in the first half, fantastic. Individual skill, finishing, it was all fantastic and was what you dream to see in the stand when you come and watch football," Wenger said.
The result meant Premier League leaders Arsenal made it 10 wins in a row in all competitions, including a League Cup penalty shootout success.
Comments
0 comment