Rice cooks up a late equalizer for Arsenal

MUNICH — Declan Rice scored a late equalizer to grab last season's runner-up Arsenal a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Eberechi Eze opened the scoring for Arsenal after coming on for the injured Bukayo Saka, but Alphonso Davies brought Bayern level after a sublime pass from Harry Kane.

Kane put Bayern on track for victory when he converted a second-half penalty, but his England teammate Rice equalized with eight minutes remaining to earn Arsenal a point.

The Gunners have seven points from three games in the league phase, two more than Bayern.

Bayern was without in-form winger Michael Olise, Germany captain Joshua Kimmich and midfielder Jamal Musiala. Coach Vincent Kompany's presence had also been a doubt due to illness, but he took his place in the dugout.

"We looked dangerous, we got the goal and we had a moment there where we could have killed off the game," Kane told DAZN.

"Probably a draw was a fair result overall. There's a lot of games and we've got players with injuries, players missing tonight, so we take the point and move on."

Despite the absences, the England captain ensured Bayern posed a consistent threat against Arsenal's miserly defense with another excellent performance ahead of next week's Ballon d'Or ceremony in Kane's hometown of London.

Kane's second-half penalty, his 16th goal in 23 matches against Arsenal, extended his scoring streak to 10 straight Champions League games. Kane is one shy of the record held by Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored in 11 consecutive matches for Real Madrid.

"I had an amazing season last year, I'm extremely proud of it. The Ballon d'Or would be amazing to win, but there's nothing I can do. The voting closed a long time ago. I have to wait for the night and see what happens," Kane said of the award.

The draw marked just the second time in 12 games across all competitions this season that Arsenal has dropped points.

"The manager has drilled into us for the last two days we're not just coming in to sit and hit on the counter — we wanted to match them all over the pitch," Rice told TNT Sports. "At home, they're one of the best teams in Europe alongside Paris."

Early Saka blow

Arsenal forward Kai Havertz felt the result was fair.

"I think it was a top-notch game for both sides," he said. "We can be proud of our performance, especially since it's anything but easy to hold your own here."

Arsenal was hit with an early blow when Saka fell to the ground eight minutes in, grabbing his thigh and immediately signaling to the bench.

Mikel Arteta said Saka's injury was still unclear, but said the club's medical staff were worried.

"They are a bit concerned about Saka. When a player has to come off with sharp pain it is never good news. We have to wait and see," the Arsenal boss said.

"The level of intensity this game requires as well is something incredible. You could see it last night at the PSG-Barcelona game.

"The level that you need, it's unbelievable. It's the highest level, and, unfortunately, those things happen.

"He doesn't look good at all, but we'll have to wait and see," the Spaniard added.

Bayern's two previous Champions League opponents were from Norway, and the perennial Bundesliga winner seemed to struggle with Arsenal's physicality as Arteta's side pinned it back in the early stages.

With 25 minutes gone, Martin Odegaard floated a simple pass across Bayern's defense and into the path of the onrushing Eze, who collected and stroked the ball past Manuel Neuer.

Caught out by Eze's perfectly timed run, the host looked even more surprised when VAR overturned the linesman's offside call and awarded the goal.

The pre-match chatter had been dominated by talk of Kane's Ballon d'Or prospects, and he showed why he is among the favorites when he set up Davies' equalizer 10 minutes later.

Arteta spoke glowingly of his side's efforts, while praising those of the home side.

"Bayern batter every team, so I really value what the boys did tonight," he said.

"That's one of the highest levels we have played. The level of opposition, and our level, as well. It was two teams that wanted to attack and play."

AFP