11th December 2025
December 11 **–** Arsenal rose to the summit of the UEFA Champions League standings on Wednesday evening as Noni Madueke notched a brace to maintain the English Premier League club’s perfect record in the competition this year.
With six wins from six, the London club are three points clear at the top of the league table in Europe’s premier club competition after a night with some magic from Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli.
“Unbelievable goal,” commented Arsenal Mikel Arteta. “When you talk about individual quality, individual action, a magic moment, that’s it. A player that is able to pick the ball that far, dribble past people and finish with the quality and the power that he’s done. The same as Martinelli as well, I think at this level you want to win games, you need individual players to step up and to do something different.”
It was the evening that Madueke truly arrived following his £50million summer move from Chelsea. It resembled Kai Havertz’s arrival from Stamford Bridge who also needed six months to settle down.
In the 25th minute, he slalomed past Joaquin Seys and Alexander Stankovic to drill home a superb strike before he got doubled Arsenal’s lead 20 seconds after half time with a header at the far post. Martinelli wrapped up the scoreline with a curler into the top corner.
Elsewhere, Manchester City cemented their top eight claims with a 2-1 win at the Santiago Bernabue thanks to a goal from Nico O’Reilly and an Erling Haaland penalty. Paris Saint-Germain, meanwhile, had to settle for a point in a 0-0 draw away at Athletic Club.
There were wins for Ajax, 4-2 away at Qarabag, Benfica, 2-0 at home against Napoli and Juventus, who toppled Pafos 2-0.
FC Copenhagen secured a valuable victory away at Villarreal, while Borussia Dortmund and Bodo/Glimt, as well as Bayer Leverkusen and Newcastle United, played out 2-2 draws.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at [moc.l1765449817labto1765449817ofdlr1765449817owedi1765449817sni@i1765449817tnuk.1765449817ardni1765449817mas1765449817](javascript:;)