Champions League: Five-star Gervinho inspires Arsenal

Gervinho

A fifth goal in his last five games from Gervinho set Arsenal on the way to their second victory in Group B.

The Ivorian – who only scored four times in the whole of last season – fired home a low finish from just outside the box in the closing moments of the first half against Olympiakos at the Emirates Stadium, only for a fine header from Kostas Mitroglou to level the scores on the stroke of half-time.

The Gunners regained the lead when Lukas Podolski blasted home 11 minutes from time, before substitute Aaron Ramsey flicked home the third to seal a 3-1 win in stoppage time.

The victory takes Arsenal two points clear at the top of Group B after Schalke and Montpellier drew 2-2 in Germany, where Souleymane Camara struck in injury-time to earn the French side their first ever Champions League point.

Real Madrid have plenty of those, and they picked up three more as they brushed aside Ajax 4-1 in Amsterdam to take full control of Group D, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick to follow on from his winning goal against Manchester City in the first group game.

A late own goal from Tomáš Hubočan earned AC Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri a welcome 3-2 victory over Zenit St Petersburg, but it is Malaga who remain in control of Group C after they won 3-0 at Anderlecht.

In Group A, Dynamo Kiev beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-0, and a late James Rodriguez strike gave Porto a 1-0 win over moneybags Paris Saint-Germain.

Mark Jones – follow me on twitter

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