Guardiola’s perfect record falls in thrilling Celtic draw

Pep Guardiola witnessed the end to his perfect record with Manchester City as his Premier League leaders had to come from behind three times to earn a 3-3 draw at Celtic in a dazzling Champions League Group C encounter on Wednesday.

Guardiola’s men were taken aback by the fevered atmosphere at Celtic Park in Glasgow as they were denied an 11th straight win which would have equalled Tottenham Hotspur’s 1960-61 landmark as the best start to a season by any English club.

The inspired Scottish champions, unrecognisable from the side humbled 7-0 at Barcelona in their opening game, sniffed a sensation after Moussa Dembele scored at the start of each half and when Raheem Sterling netted a first-half own goal.

Yet City simply refused to be subdued, responding with strikes from Fernandinho, the excellent Sterling and Nolito and coming close to a late winner before settling for the point that moves them into second place in the group on four points behind Barcelona, who won 2-1 at Borussia Monchengladbach.

Elsewhere on Wednesday night, Theo Walcottt scored twice before half-time as Arsenal beat FC Basel 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium to move joint top of Champions League Group A.

The England forward twice combined brilliantly with Alexis Sanchez as Arsenal overwhelmed the Swiss to stretch their unbeaten run in all competitions to eight matches.

Arsenal needed only six minutes to open the scoring when Walcott headed in a Sanchez cross and a superb one-two 20 minutes later with the south American saw him double the lead.

Basel keeper Tomas Vaclik kept his side in the hunt with a series of fine stops and although Basel offered more threat after the break the damage was already done.

Bayern Munich’s perfect start to the season under coach Carlo Ancelotti meanwhile came to an end as Jannick Carrasco’s first-half goal gave Atletico Madrid a 1-0 home victory in their Champions League Group D game.

Bayern were aiming to make it nine wins in a row in all competitions, but were derailed by an Atletico side that took a deserved 35th-minute lead and remain unbeaten this season.

Atletico seized the initiative when Bayern’s Xabi Alonso gave the ball away in midfield, allowing the Spaniards to counter.

Antoine Griezmann sent Carrasco through on goal and the Belgian winger struck a low left-footed shot past a helpless Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and in off the post.

Atletico could have made it 2-0 with six minutes remaining, but Griezmann drove his penalty against the crossbar, after Arturo Vidal fouled Filipe Luis in the area.

Results from Wednesday’s other Champions League games:

Ludogorets Razgrad 1
PSG 3

Besiktas 1
Dynamo Kiev 1

Napoli 4
Benfica 2

B. Monchengladbach 1
Barcelona 2

Atletico Madrid 1
Bayern Munich 0

Rostov 2
PSV Eindhoven 2

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