MUNICH: Declan Rice scored a late equaliser to grab last season's runners-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 equalised 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 were without in-form winger Michael Olise, Germany captain Joshua Kimmich and midfielder Jamal Musiala. Coach Vincent Kompany had been a doubt due to illness but 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 defence 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 was just the second time Arsenal had dropped points in 12 games in all competitions this season.
"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 with Paris."
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."
[[nid:1560987]]
Early Saka blow
Arsenal were hit with an early blow when Saka fell to the ground eight minutes in, grabbing his thigh and immediately signalling to the bench.
Bayern's two previous Champions League opponents were from Norway and the perennial Bundesliga winners seemed to struggle with Arsenal's physicality as Mikel Arteta's side pinned them back in the early stages.
With 25 minutes gone, Odegaard floated a simple pass across Bayern's defence 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 hosts 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 favourites when he set up Davies's equaliser 10 minutes later.
Kane spotted Davies on the move and threaded the ball through the midfield and around Gabriel for the Canadian winger to guide the ball into the bottom corner.
With the hosts now in the ascendancy, Ezri Konsa saw yellow for taking Kane out of a Bayern counter minutes later.
After the break, Neuer and David Raya took turns producing magnificent saves, with the Bayern captain tipping Bruno Guimaraes's header onto the crossbar and the Spaniard denying Dayot Upamecano.
Both sides traded surges forward but Kane would again prove crucial as Bayern took the lead.
Kane's shot from the edge of the penalty area connected with Jurrien Timber's arm, the referee immediately pointing to the spot before Kane stepped up and buried his kick.
Bayern looked to be in control but the match turned again when late substitute Viktor Gyokeres threaded a clever pass to Rice, who slammed in an equaliser.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd