WILLIAN eased the pressure on troubled Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho as the Brazilian’s sublime free-kick clinched a crucial 2-1 win over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League on Wednesday.

    Meanwhile, Thomas Mueller scored two goals as Bayern Munich hammered Arsenal 5-1 to close in on a place in the knockout stage.

    Bayern lost to Arsenal 2-0 in London but the five-time champion dominated the return fixture from start to finish, giving Arsene Wenger’s team no chance.

    Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring in the 10th minute, Mueller doubled the lead in the 29th, David Alaba made it 3-0 in the 44th. Arjen Robben scored with his first touch of the ball in the 55th, less than a minute after coming off the bench. Mueller added his second in the 89th.

    Olivier Giroud pulled one back for Arsenal in the 69th.

    Neymar and Luis Suarez continued their excellent scoring form to make up for the absence of Lionel Messi and help Barcelona move closer to the round of 16 with an easy 3-0 win over BATE Borisov.

    With Messi watching from the Camp Nou stands, Neymar converted a penalty on the half-hour mark, then set up Suarez’s strike in the 60th and scored his second goal in the 83rd after an assist by the Uruguayan striker.

    Since Messi tore a left-knee ligament Sept. 26, Neymar and Suarez have combined for 17 of Barcelona’s 20 goals.

    Mourinho’s tenuous hold on his job appeared to be loosening even further when Dynamo’s Aleksandar Dragovic cancelled out his first half own goal with a late equalizer for the Ukrainian champions.

    But with just seven minutes remaining at Stamford Bridge, Brazilian winger Willian whipped a sensational 30-meter free-kick into the top corner to give Chelsea just their second win in their last nine games in all competitions.

    Failure to beat Dynamo would have left the struggling English champions in severe danger of failing to make the last 16, but Willian’s heroics lifted them to second place in Group G and put qualification back in their own hands with fixtures against Maccabi Tel Aviv and Porto remaining.

    Chelsea was still well below its best, yet the result will buy Mourinho time to work on resolving the crisis that threatens to bring a premature end to his second spell at the club.

    “The win is a big relief. The players deserve to get compensation for their hard work,” Mourinho said.

    “Many players are coming to their normal levels, despite having feelings as a team when negative moments come.

    “The difference today was we had confidence in the negative moment.

    “The team was strong mentally, they kept trying and I’m happy with that.”

    (SD-Agencies)