LAST UPDATE | 24 Oct 2023
HARRY KANE SCORED his 11th club goal of the season, and Jamal Musiala assisted one and scored another, as Bayern Munich won 3-1 at Galatasaray, extending their stellar Champions League group stage record to 17 straight wins.
Musiala charged up the middle of the park to help create the opener for Kingsley Coman early, before Argentina striker Mauro Icardi won and converted a penalty to level the scores.
Musiala, still just 20, laid on a goal for Kane before the England captain returned the favour, allowing the Germany midfielder to get a goal of his own.
“It was an important win” Kane told Amazon Prime immediately after the victory. “They made it difficult for us in the first half but in the second we calmed down a little.”
Fellow goalscorer Coman echoed Kane’s comments, saying “it wasn’t easy, they put plenty of pressure on us — but we got better in the second half.”
Six-time winners Bayern came into the game hoping to protect a remarkable recent record in the Champions League.
The German champions travelled to Istanbul unbeaten in their past 36 matches in the group stages, including 19 away games.
Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel, Champions League winner with Chelsea in 2021, praised his side’s stunning record after the victory.
“I don’t know how many group stage matches I’ve done as a coach, but it’s always super difficult – so it’s great to find ourselves with nine points after three matches.”
Bayern have now not lost a match in the group stages since September 2017.
Meanwhile, Inter Milan took provisional lead of Champions League Group D after winning a tough contest with Salzburg 2-1 at a packed San Siro.
Goals in each half from Alexis Sanchez and Hakan Calhanoglu were enough for Inter to move up to seven points, a total on which they were subsequently joined by Real Sociedad, who won 1-0 away to Benfica.
Simone Inzaghi’s side were good value for their win but were made to sweat for the three points as Salzburg caused the hosts problems and were briefly level when Oscar Gloukh stroked home a classy finish in the 57th minute.
Salzburg had if anything had the better of the play in the early stages but Sanchez pounced on Inter’s first real chance of the game to put the hosts ahead in the 19th minute.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan tried to feed Davide Frattesi who had made a burst into the box but his misplaced pass instead found Sanchez, who calmly stroked home his first Inter goal since returning from Marseille.
That goal took the wind out of Salzburg’s sails and Inter pressed for a second, but the closest they came in the first half was in the 32nd minute when Denzel Dumfries’ cross was almost turned in by Amar Dedic.
Inter almost doubled their lead in the 56th minute when Carlos Augusto flashed just wide but seconds later Gloukh drew Salzburg level with a brilliant first-time finish reminiscent of Sanchez’s opener after good play from Roko Simic and Maurits Kjaergaard.
However Inter responded and were soon back in the lead when Lucas Gourna-Douath and Strahinja Pavlovic clumsily bundled over Frattesi and referee Francois Letexier quickly pointed to the penalty spot.
Calhanoglu made no mistake with his spot-kick, rifling home what turned out to be the winning goal to the right of Alexander Schlager.
In the later kick-offs, Jude Bellingham scored his third goal in as many Champions League appearances for Real Madrid as the Spanish side won 2-1 away to Braga in Portugal on Tuesday.
Rodrygo put Real ahead and England star Bellingham made it 2-0 just after the hour mark, with Carlo Ancelotti’s side then holding on after Alvaro Djalo pulled one back for Braga.
“Overall, I really think we produced a good game,” said Ancelotti.
“I didn’t enjoy that they scored because before that we were well in control and the win was in hand.”
The result leaves Madrid in a strong position with the maximum nine points from three games in Group C, three ahead of Napoli who beat Union Berlin 1-0 away in Germany.
Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskheli helped his side secure a narrow victory, laying on the game’s only goal for Giacomo Raspadori in a 1-0 away victory.
The Georgian stepped up in the absence of star striker Victor Osimhen and was dangerous throughout, slicing through the Union defence to set up Raspadori midway through the second half.
The victory – Napoli’s second in three group stage matches – boosts the Italian side’s chances of reaching the knockouts, while Union are stranded in last place with no points after three losses.
In Group B, Lens moved to second place and a point behind Arsenal with a 1-1 draw against PSV Eindhoven.
– © AFP 2023, with reporting by Gavin Cooney
Updated at 22.52 with details of late kick-offs
