Arsenal revive hopes as Chelsea held
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Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil struck late on as Arsenal gave their UEFA Champions League hopes a shot in the arm with a stirring 2-0 win over Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. Meanwhile,Chelsea had to settle for a 0-0 draw away to Dynamo Kiev but reigning European champions Barcelona won in Belarus and Bayer Leverkusen played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with Roma in Germany.
Arsenal, in desperate need of a win after defeats to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos in their first two games, took advantage of a howler by Neuer to get the crucial breakthrough with 13 minutes remaining. The Germany goalkeeper came and missed a free-kick, allowing substitute Giroud to bundle the ball into the net.
Arsenal then secured the points that keep alive their chances of progressing to the last 16 when Ozil's finish from Hector Bellerin's assist crossed the line despite Neuer's best efforts to keep it out. The Gunners remain bottom of the group with a trip to Bayern to come next, but the four sides are separated by just three points after Olympiakos won 1-0 at Zagreb in the night's other game thanks to a late Brown Ideye goal.
Chelsea remain in a precarious position in Group G after a 0-0 draw with Dynamo Kiev in chilly Ukraine as the recalled Eden Hazard and Willian both hit the woodwork for the visitors. The Premier League champions are third in the group, a point behind Dynamo and three points adrift of Porto, who beatMaccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 in Portugal thanks to goals by Vincent Aboubakar and Yacine Brahimi.
Barcelona strengthened their position atop Group E with a 2-0 victory away to BATE Borisov, secured by two fine second-half goals from substitute Ivan Rakitic, both set up Neymar.
The other match in the group was without doubt the game of the evening, with Leverkusen taking a two-goal lead and then falling 4-2 down before fighting back to snatch a precious point against Roma. Javier Hernandez opened the scoring from the penalty spot for the German Bundesliga side and increased their lead in the 19th minute, but Daniele De Rossi replied with a double for Roma before the break.
A tremendous Miralem Pjanic free-kick put the visitors in front and Iago Falque appeared to have secured a first win of the campaign for the Italians in the 73rd minute. But Kevin Kampl reduced the deficit and substitute Admir Mehmedi rounded off a breathtaking game by making it 4-4 four minutes from time to keep Leverkusen in second place and leave Roma bottom of the group.
Zenit St. Petersburg closed in on a quarter-final place with a third straight win in Group H as Artem Dzyuba, Hulk and Danny netted in a 3-1 victory over Lyon, for whom Alexandre Lacazette had equalised. Valencia are three points back in second place after beating Gent 2-1 in Spain thanks to a Sofiane Feghouli shot that went in off Lasse Nielsen and a Stefan Mitrovic own goal either side of a Thomas Foket strike for the Belgians.