Harry Kane marked his comeback from injury with a superb strike as Bayern Munich took the advantage in their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid with an impressive first-leg victory at the Bernabeu.
This happened just as Arsenal also recorded an impressive away win against Sporting Lisbon to dent the unbeaten run of the Portuguese side.
Kane, watched by England head coach Thomas Tuchel, was back in action following the minor issue that forced him to miss the international friendly against Japan and Bayern’s Bundesliga win against Freiburg.
The 32-year-old England captain was subdued in the first half, although he was involved in the build-up when former Liverpool forward Luis Diaz gave Bayern a deserved lead with a composed finish four minutes before half-time.
Kane then showed his class moments after the restart with a clinical right-foot strike into the bottom corner that gave Real keeper Andriy Lunin no chance.
Bayern’s veteran keeper Manuel Neuer made four fine saves, including three from Kylian Mbappe, but Vincent Kompany’s visiting side could also have scored more in a pulsating encounter.
In desperation, and with restlessness sweeping around the stadium, Real brought Jude Bellingham on after an hour as Real tried to mount a fightback – and the midfielder delivered an outstanding cameo.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, who had looked uncertain in defence, showed the other side of his game with a superb low cross that was turned in by Mbappe after 74 minutes.
Real continued to press but Bayern held out to take a narrow lead to Munich for the second leg.
Meanwhile, Kai Havertz scored a stoppage-time winner as Arsenal beat Sporting 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in Lisbon.
The second-half substitute poked the ball past Rui Silva late on to give the Premier League leaders a narrow advantage going into next week’s second leg at Emirates Stadium.
The pressure was on Arsenal coming into this match after they suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time this season.
And that tension was nearly increased further when Sporting left-back Maxi Araujo crashed a shot against the Arsenal crossbar early on after a superb through ball from Ousmane Diomande.
The Gunners had plenty of possession in the first half but could not translate that into clear-cut chances. The closest they came to scoring was when Noni Madueke hit the crossbar direct from a corner.
Sporting continually threatened with fast counter-attacks and almost punished the Gunners when Araujo made another burst forward and cut the ball back to Francisco Trincao, who pulled his shot wide.
Martin Zubimendi thought he had given Arsenal a second-half lead when he curled in from the edge of the box, but the strike was ruled out as former Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres was offside in the build-up.
The hosts piled on the pressure in the latter stages and David Raya made three good saves to keep the scores level, before Havertz snatched the win for the Gunners.
The victory is Arsenal’s first in three matches and gives Mikel Arteta’s side a boost as they return to Premier League action against Bournemouth at the weekend.
