Big night for Kane as Bayern Munich, Arsenal draw 2-2

ROME (AP):

A goal and an assist from Harry Kane wasn’t enough for Bayern Munich to beat Arsenal.

Kane’s England teammate Declan Rice scored a second-half equaliser for last season’s runner-up to secure a 2-2 draw at six-time winners Bayern in a matchup of two European heavyweights in the Champions League yesterday.

Rice traded passes with Viktor Gyokeres before finding the target eight minutes from time.

Kane converted a penalty earlier in the second half to increase his total to 16 goals in 23 career matches against Arsenal, having scored every season against the London club from 2014-15 to 2023-24 — mostly with Tottenham.

Kane also sent Alphonso Davies in on goal when Bayern responded to Eberechi Eze’s opener for Arsenal.

It was Kane’s 10th straight Champions League match with a goal – moving within one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of scoring in 11 consecutive games (set in 2017 and 2018).

“We had some good moments, just not enough over the full 90 (minutes),” Kane said.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid had a more straightforward 4-1 victory over Leipzig after needing three goals in the final 10 minutes of a victory over Roma last week.

Earlier, Manchester United’s crisis deepened after a 4-1 debacle at competition newcomers Como, leaving coach Michael Carrick at risk.

Also, Aston Villa moved second in the league-phase standings with a 3-1 win over Norwegian club Viking. Unai Emery’s team has won all three of its matches, scored 12 and conceded three to trail only two-time defending champions Paris Saint-Germain on goals scored.

In other results, it was: Inter Milan 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk; Sporting Lisbon 2-3 LASK; Lille 2-4 Galatasaray; Club Brugge 3-0 Lens 0; and Real Betis 1-0 Feyenoord.

Madrid and Betis — who scored through a penalty kick from Isco — have also won all three of their matches.

ONGOING BATTLE

Real Madrid are involved in an ongoing battle with the Spanish league over alleged refereeing controversies but José Mourinho’s team should have little to complain about after a complete performance against Leipzig.

Bernardo Silva’s first goal for Real Madrid came just before halftime as the former Manchester City midfielder prodded in from close range after goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt couldn’t quite gather a shot from Arda Guler.

Guler added the second after the break.

Kylian Mbappé made it 3-0 with his 73rd career Champions League goal before Tidiam Gomis pulled one back for Leipzig, then Yan Diomande restored Madrid’s three-goal advantage.

MAN UNITED STRUGGLE

United have now been outscored 6-1 in their last two European matches.

Nico Paz scored twice and also set up another score for Cesc Fabregas’ Como, who were playing in the fourth division of Italian football just seven years ago.

“We got outplayed for most of the game so it was a very disappointing night,” United midfielder Youri Tielemans said. “It’s everything. You can be good tactically but if the effort is not good (then it won’t work) and vice versa. You need to be good at everything and tonight we were poor. It comes down to that.”

United were already in turmoil, with defender Lisandro Martinez last week calling out the club’s hierarchy over its offseason recruitment, with director of football Jason Wilcox the apparent target of his criticism.

In January, Ruben Amorim had a fallout with Wilcox which swiftly led to the manager being fired after just 14 months in the job.

Now Carrick could be on the way out.

In the other early game, Galatasaray won at Lille with Victor Osimhen scoring against one of his former clubs.

NICO PAZ SHOW

Paz has been auditioning to take over Lionel Messi’s playmaker spot with Argentina and his performance against United was a case in point.