New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) Table-topping Arsenal made it six wins from six and cemented their place at the top of the league phase table with a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while Manchester City City emerged victorious 2-1 from their trip to Real Madrid.

Superb Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli strikes helped Arsenal move to six wins from six in the league phase. One of seven changes to the XI that defeated Bayern on Matchday 5, Madueke hit a scintillating opener on 25 minutes when he held off Joaquin Seys deep in Club Brugge’s half, drove forward and thundered a long-range strike into the top-right corner.

The hosts twice came close through Aleksandar Stanković later in the first half, but Arsenal responded emphatically after the break – Madueke heading in Martin Zubimendi’s cross on 47 minutes before Martinelli cut in to curl a superb third nine minutes later. The return of Gabriel Jesus, out of action since January, added further sweetness for the Gunners, UEFA reports.

Meanwhile, Nico O’Reilly’s instinctive strike and Erling Haaland’s cool penalty sealed a comeback victory for the Man City.

Real Madrid enjoyed the brighter opening, Vinicius Junior dinking wide early on before Rodrygo applied a neat finish to a sweeping move just ahead of the half-hour.

Pep Guardiola’s men were behind for a little over seven minutes, levelling when O’Reilly pounced after Thibaut Courtois was unable to hold a Joško Gvardiol header. With half-time approaching, Haaland marked his 50th Champions League start with a calm spot kick following a foul on the Norwegian international by Antonio Rüdiger.

Substitute Endrick came closest to conjuring up an equaliser, but nodded against the crossbar late on.

Elsewhere, Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo found a late equaliser to deny Newcastle a win on their travels in Germany.

Anthony Gordon’s fine second-half performance had looked like enough only for Grimaldo to run into the area and smash past Aaron Ramsdale with two minutes remaining.

Leverkusen led when captain Robert Andrich’s header hit Bruno Guimarães on the back and deflected in, Gordon levelling by drilling in a penalty after Nick Woltemade had been fouled.

The England man then crossed for teenager Lewis Miley to head in but Grimaldo had the last word.

–IANS

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