BATE, Olympiacos surprise as Lewandowski stars
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Article summary
BATE Borisov and Olympiacos secured surprise wins while two late Barcelona goals avoided another shock on a night where Robert Lewandowski kept up his hot scoring streak.
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- BATE Borisov shock Roma and Olympiacos win at Arsenal
- Two late Barcelona goals secure 2-1 comeback defeat of Leverkusen
- Robert Lewandowski keeps up scoring streak with hat-trick against Dinamo Zagreb
- Porto beat Chelsea while Dynamo Kyiv, Valencia and Zenit also win
- Vote for your Player of the Week from 09.00CET on Thursday
- Groups E–H continue on 20 October, Groups A–D resume on Wednesday
Follow the links for video highlights (from 24.00CET on Tuesday until 24.00CET on Wednesday), match reports and reaction.
Group E
Barcelona 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Held by Roma on matchday one and without the injured Lionel Messi, the holders were struggling when Leverkusen took the lead through Kyriakos Papadopoulos on 22 minutes and held it for nearly an hour. But with ten minutes to go substitute Sergi Roberto made it 1-1 and almost instantly Luis Suárez clinched victory for Barcelona, who go top.
BATE Borisov 3-2 Roma
BATE halted a run of five straight group losses yet they were made to sweat. The Belarusian champions were 3-0 up in 30 minutes, Igor Stasevich's opener being followed by two from Filip Mladenović. However, Gervinho gave Roma hope and with eight minutes left Vasilis Torosidis set up a nervous finish.
Group F
Bayern München 5-0 Dinamo Zagreb
Having scored seven in his last two Bundesliga games, Robert Lewandowski carried that form into Europe with a hat-trick in a comfortable win that ended Dinamo Zagreb's 45-match unbeaten competitive record. His treble also took Bayern three points clear of their fellow matchday one victors.
Arsenal 2-3 Olympiacos
Arsenal remain without a point after an extraordinary contest in London. Felipe Pardo put the visitors ahead with a deflected shot on 33 minutes but immediately Theo Walcott levelled. Olympiacos led at half-time when Kostas Fortounis's corner was fumbled in by David Ospina and although Alexis Sánchez equalised in the 65th minute, substitute Alfred Finnbogason smashed in the winner.
Group G
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 0-2 Dynamo Kyiv
Andriy Yarmolenko and Júnior Moraes registered early in each half for Dynamo to move them onto four points and leave Maccabi still yet to get off the mark.
Porto 2-1 Chelsea
Iker Casillas's record-breaking 152nd UEFA club competition appearance proved happier than José Mourinho's latest return to Porto. Although André André's opener late in the first half was cancelled out by Willian's free-kick just prior to the interval, Maicon settled matters on 52 minutes to lift Porto level with Dynamo at the top, a point clear of Chelsea.
Group H
Olympique Lyonnais 0-1 Valencia
French-born midfielder Sofiane Feghouli's 42nd-minute strike gave the points to Valencia in a game where both teams hit the woodwork more than once.
Zenit 2-1 Gent
Zenit occupy pole position, three points above Valencia, after Hulk laid on goals for Artem Dzyuba and Oleg Shatov either side of a Thomas Matton strike.