Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) stole the spotlight on Tuesday night with a stunning 7-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, as goals flowed freely across Europe in a thrilling round of UEFA Champions League matches.
Erling Haaland found the net once again in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Villarreal, while Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven, and Arsenal all recorded dominant victories. A total of 43 goals were scored across nine matches.
In Leverkusen, PSG delivered a record-breaking performance. Desire Doue struck twice, with Willian Pacho and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia also on target in the first half. Alejandro Grimaldo missed a penalty for Leverkusen before Aleix Garcia converted from the spot.
Both teams went down to 10 men before halftime after Robert Andrich and Illia Zabarnyi were sent off. Nuno Mendes extended PSG’s lead shortly after the restart, Garcia replied to make it 5-2, and then Ousmane Dembele — returning from injury and fresh off his Ballon d’Or win — made it six. Vitinha completed the rout in stoppage time.
“I am not yet at 100 percent. I wanted to play at the weekend, but the coach told me to wait a bit. I felt great,” Dembele told Canal Plus after the match.
It was the first time PSG scored seven goals away from home in a Champions League game. The defending champions sit top of their league-phase group with nine points and the best goal difference after three matches.
Elsewhere, Inter Milan and Arsenal also maintained perfect records. Inter cruised past Union Saint-Gilloise 4-0 in Brussels, with goals from Denzel Dumfries, Lautaro Martinez, Hakan Calhanoglu, and Pio Esposito.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal demolished Atletico Madrid 4-0. All goals came in the second half as Gabriel opened the scoring, Gabriel Martinelli added another, and Viktor Gyokeres ended his seven-match goal drought with a brace.
“Hopefully it’s the start of some beautiful sequence now,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said after the win.
In Spain, Haaland and Bernardo Silva fired Manchester City to a 2-0 win over Villarreal, extending Pep Guardiola’s team’s unbeaten run in Europe. Haaland has now scored 15 goals in 11 appearances this season.
“I see that things are looking good. We are playing better day after day and that’s a good sign,” Guardiola told Movistar.
Borussia Dortmund claimed a 4-2 away victory at FC Copenhagen, with Felix Nmecha scoring twice. Ramy Bensebaini and Fabio Silva added the others for the German side.
Barcelona bounced back from their previous defeat with a commanding 6-1 win over Olympiacos at Montjuic. Fermin Lopez scored a hat-trick, Lamine Yamal converted a penalty, and Marcus Rashford struck twice. Ayoub El Kaabi’s penalty was the only goal for the visitors.
At St James’ Park, Newcastle United earned their second consecutive win with a 3-0 triumph over Benfica. Anthony Gordon opened the scoring before substitute Harvey Barnes netted twice. Benfica, managed by Jose Mourinho, remain without a point after three matches.
In Eindhoven, PSV stunned Italian champions Napoli 6-2 despite conceding first to Scott McTominay. An own goal by Alessandro Buongiorno equalised before Ismael Saibari, Dennis Man (twice), Ricardo Pepi, and Couhaib Driouech sealed the emphatic victory. Napoli’s Lorenzo Lucca was sent off late in the game.
The only goalless fixture of the night came between Kairat Almaty and Pafos in Kazakhstan.
— AFP
