UEFA Champions League news: Barcelona rally past Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich thump Dinamo Zagreb

In a day of upsets when Arsenal and Chelsea lost to less fancied opponents, Barcelona managed to avoid an upset of their own at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night as they staged a late rally to beat German side Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League.

The Germans surprisingly took the lead halfway through the first half when Kyriakos Papadopoulos scored off a header from Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner kick.

Barcelona began to attack Leverkusen more and Neymar came close to levelling towards the end of the first half but his shot hit the crossbar and Sandro’s follow-up attempt was blocked by the Leverkusen defenders.

Leverkusen could have increased their lead further in their second half but an unmarked Javier Hernandez somehow managed to miss from just 10 yards, with his shot flying into the stands.

The Catalans punished Leverkusen for that mistake in the 80th minute when Munir El Haddadi’s shot was saved, only for Sergi Roberto to slot home the rebound.

Luis Suarez then gave completed Barcelona’s comeback just two minutes later, as El Haddadi set up the Uruguayan striker, who made no mistake with his finish.

Bayern Munich, meanwhile, thrashed Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb 5-0 at home, with Robert Lewandowski scoring his second hat-trick in three games in all competitions.

Douglas Costa opened the scoring for the hosts as early as the 13 minute when his low shot managed to slip past Zagreb goalkeeper Eduardo at the near post.

A defensive error by Zagreb defender Filip Benkovic meant Thiago Alcantara was handed the ball on a platter, and passed to Lewandowski for an easy finish just eight minutes later.

Mario Gotze added a third in the 25th minute when he finished off a one-two move with summer transfer Kingsley Coman. And it was 4-0 in 28 minutes of the match when Lewandowski added his second, managing to hit the crossbar with his effort from a corner kick, with the ball rebounding and barely crossing the goal line. The Polish striker then completed a well-deserved hat-trick in the second half by coolly chipping the ball over Eduardo after being played onside by Thiago.

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