UEFA Champions League
Arsenal favourites against Bayern but Arteta wary of Kane threat
In-form Arsenal will be seeking to set the record straight when they face Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday but will be wary of a familiar face who simply loves scoring against the Gunners.
The last time the two clubs clashed in the competition in 2017, Bayern Munich won both legs of their last-16 tie 5-1 — a humiliating outcome that underlined Arsenal’s decline
Arsenal only returned to the Champions League this season and have thrived, reaching their first quarter-final since the 2009-10 season while challenging for the Premier League title.
Such is their form and Bayern’s current struggles that they will go up against the six-times champions as favourites to set up a clash against either Manchester City or Real Madrid.
But the sight of former Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane in Munich’s ranks will be a concern for the home faithful.
Kane scored a record 14 goals in 19 north London derbies and the England captain will be fired-up to bring his former team’s rivals and current Premier League leaders back down to earth.
“When you look at his numbers over the past 10 years they are unbelievable,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told reporters on Monday. “He can score in many different ways.
“He has got the service and the players around him as well to provide those opportunities… But it’s not only him but the 10 other individuals that they have.
“We know the individual qualities of those players, and him in particular. The ability he has. The best thing is to collectively prevent certain things.”
BELOW STANDARD
While Arsenal are potentially seven matches away from winning their first English title for 20 years, Bayern have fallen way short of their normal standards in the Bundesliga and are 16 points behind runaway leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
Their manager Thomas Tuchel will leave at the end of the season but, despite his problems, Arteta is a big fan of the German who won the Champions League with Chelsea.
“They are a top team. I am a big admirer of Thomas. The way his teams set up, the way they play, the way they transmit,” Arteta said. “I have learned a lot from him.”
The Spaniard is not reading too much into Bayern’s disappointing league season, saying they are still an imposing hurdle.
“Football is such a competitive environment and so difficult to be consistent that this can happen to anybody,” he said of the form which saw Bayern lose to Heidenheim at the weekend.
Bayern will have no fans at The Emirates on Tuesday as punishment for fireworks being thrown in the previous round against Lazio and Arteta has called on the home supporters to make the atmosphere a cauldron.
“A full house! A lot of passion and emotion. We haven’t had this opportunity for 15 years, so that tells you how special this night is going to be for us,” Arteta said.
Asked if he would be quizzing Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso about how to beat Bayern, Arteta was tight-lipped.
“Great question but I’m not going to answer that!” he said.
-Reuters
UEFA Champions League
Osimhen and Aubameyang: Africa’s First Men of the Match in 2025/26 Champions League
The Champions League has barely started and already African fans have something to be proud of.
Two of the continent’s biggest names, Victor Osimhen from Nigeria and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Gabon, have become the first African players this season to be named Man of the Match.
For Osimhen, it was a night to remember in Istanbul. Galatasaray were up against Liverpool, a team with a European pedigree and needed someone to step up. Osimhen did just that.
His goal gave Galatasaray a 1-0 win but it was more than just the goal. His energy and how he kept Liverpool’s defenders on their toes all night made him the best player on the pitch.
So his winning of the UEFA Man of the Match award. Galatasaray fans had proof they have a striker who can change games at the highest level.
Meanwhile, on the same night in Marseille, Aubameyang was showing why he has been Africa’s most reliable goal scorer for over a decade.
At 36, some wondered if he still had it on nights like this. His answer was a thunderous “YES.”
Marseille tore Ajax apart in a 4–0 demolition that saw Aubameyang seal his stature as the orchestrator and heartbeat of the French club’s attack.
His movement, his composure and his leadership stood out. So much so that he too was rightfully awarded the Man of the Match.
The fact that these two happened on the same night made it even more special for African football fans.
Osimhen represents the new generation: quick, hungry and with still a few years ahead to make history.
Aubameyang is the veteran still out there to prove – even though he really has nothing to prove anymore – that experience and class don’t fade easily.
Together, they gave African football fans a double reason to smile.
For Nigeria and Gabon, these awards are more than individual trophies. They are ultimately a reminder of how much African players contribute to the Champions League season in, season out.
And the tournament is still in its early stages. So there’s every chance more players from the continent will follow in their footsteps before the Budapest finale in 2026. Only good omens for the 2025 AFCON that starts in a few months.
-Morocco World News
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In his glory days, Jose Mourinho celebrated dramatic goals from his teams by sprinting down the touchline, sometimes sliding on his knees for extra euphoric effect.
On Tuesday, back at his former club Chelsea as the new coach of Benfica, Mourinho’s most eye-catching intervention was down the touchline again, but this time his run was to urge his team’s fans to stop hurling objects onto the pitch.
Benfica under Mourinho, in his fourth game in charge, were defeated 1-0 by an under-strength Chelsea side in the Champions League after a fist-half Richard Rios own goal.
The self-declared “Special One” was lauded by the home fans with a few choruses of “Jose Mou-rin-ho” in recognition of his successes – three Premier League titles and four other trophies – which no other Chelsea manager has come close to matching.
Mourinho, 62, acknowledged the chants with a gentle wave, got a cheer when he ventured onto the pitch to clear a spare ball and quickly vanished down the tunnel at the final whistle after shaking the hand of Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.
It was all a far cry from the fervour of 20 years ago when Mourinho – having led Porto to an unlikely Champions League triumph – turned Chelsea into English champions for the first time in 50 years in 2005 and won the title again a year later.
After a collapse of form, Mourinho departed in 2007 but he won the Champions League again, this time with Inter Milan in 2010, knocking out the Londoners on the way to the final.
He went on to manage Real Madrid before returning to Chelsea where he claimed a third English title and then had spells at Manchester United, London side Tottenham Hotspur – an unforgivable move for many Chelsea fans at the time – and Roma.
As the big offers dried up, Mourinho went on to coach Fenerbahce in Turkey where he lasted little more than a year before his return to Portuguese football with Benfica.
Asked after Tuesday’s defeat by Chelsea if he still had the drive of the early days of his career, Mourinho insisted he felt more motivated.
“If I am in a job it’s because I like to put myself on the line every day,” he told reporters. “I am desperate to win the next match.”
Mourinho said he thought Benfica had deserved more from the game. “We started well, we controlled well. I don’t know if I can say big chances but we had chances for sure.”
Chelsea’s Maresca said he was relieved to secure a win – albeit a scrappy one – after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League and a 3-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the his side’s Champions League opener.
“Sometimes you need to learn to win in another way,” he said of Chelsea’s improved defensive performance. “At least we learned how to win a game with a red card.”
Striker Joao Pedro was dismissed for a second yellow card after coming on as a substitute, the third time in four matches that Chelsea have finished with 10 men
-Reuters
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Hosts Eintracht Frankfurt scored four times in 29 minutes to bounce back from a goal down and hammer Galatasaray 5-1 in their Champions League opener on Thursday.
The Turkish sides are without their talismanic striker, Victor Osimhen who was injured while on international duty with Nigeria.
The Turks had hit Frankfurt on the break with Yunus Akgun completing the move from a Leroy Sane assist in the eighth minute. Germany international Sane, who joined from Bayern Munich this season, became the only player in Champions League history to play for four or more clubs and score or assist on his debut for each of them.
Frankfurt, competing for only the second time in the Champions League main round, struggled to break through Galatasaray’s defence until a defensive error from Akgun in the 37th. Ritsu Doan pounced, charged into the box and Davinson Sanchez deflected the Japanese winger’s shot in for an own goal.
The hosts took the lead in first-half stoppage time when 19-year-old Turkey international Can Uzun scored a superb goal on his Champions League debut after fine control and a quick turn in the box. The hosts netted again before halftime with Jonathan Burkardt’s well-timed glancing header putting them 3-1 up.
With the visitors forced to take more risks after the break, Frankfurt found space and Burkardt completed his dream Champions League debut with another header in the 66th for his second goal of the evening. Ansgar Knauff completed the rout in the 75th.
Frankfurt next travel to Atletico Madrid on September 30 when Galatasaray host Liverpool.
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