Wekly sports roundup

 Weekly Sports Roundup

 

By Mboto Harry Ivan.

This Valentine's midweek was packed with mouthwatering football fixtures, ranging from the much-anticipated UEFA champions league to the English Premier League.

On Tuesday, Bayern Munich humbled Lionel Messi's side Paris Saint-Germain with Kingsley Coman scoring against his former club in the 1-0 win at the Parc des Princes Stadium in the first leg of their heavyweight round-of-16 tie. The German champions dominated the majority of the game as their hosts PSG struggled to find chances. French striker Kylian Mbappe came off the bench and scored twice, only for both to be ruled out for offside as PSG came to life in the closing stages.

Bayern had to finish the game with 10 men after Benjamin Pavard was shown a second yellow card in stoppage time. After their third loss in a row in all competitions, PSG will need to produce a much-improved performance in the return leg in Munich in three weeks' time.

In other news, Karim Adeyemi's outstanding strike gave Borussia Dortmund victory over Chelsea on Wednesday night at Signal Iduna Park in their Champions League round of 16 first leg matchup. After a busy January transfer window and the recovery of some injured players, Chelsea fielded a new-look starting lineup for the Champions League. Chelsea played well in the first half, Joao Felix blowing up two great chances that could have put his team ahead during the goalless first half. The German international Adeyemi put Dortmund in front midway through the second half with a brilliant individual effort from the midfield.The teams will meet again on March 7th at Stamford Bridge for the decisive second leg.

The best show of the midweek was however reserved for English Premier League leaders Arsenal as they took on Manchester City at home. Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland scored second-half goals to give the 2021/2022 champions a 3-1 win in a thrilling contest at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.

In the 24th minute, City took the lead following a superb strike from Kevin De Bruyne after Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu made a woeful defensive error. Bukayo Saka calmly converted a penalty for Arsenal before the half time whistle after Ederson fouled Eddie Nketiah in the box. Grealish finished on a superb team move with a low deflected finish past the grasp of Aaron Ramsdale in the 72nd minute, before Haaland converted minutes later to seal the win for City.

While Arsenal still has a game to play, they will have to travel to the Etihad Stadium for a possibly title deciding match on April 26. City now leads the EPL table standings on goal differential having equal points with Arsenal.