PSG’s Desire Doue celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal
Paris Saint-Germain scored seven, Barcelona hit six and Erling Haaland struck his 24th goal of the season on an action-packed night in the Champions League yesterday [Macau time].
In all, there were 43 goals in nine games, with six teams scoring four or more.
PSV Eindhoven routed Italian champion Napoli 6-2, while Arsenal and Inter Milan also had big wins to maintain their perfect starts in Europe.
But it is defending champion PSG that leads the way at the top of the standings after a wild 7-2 win against Bayer Leverkusen in a match that saw both teams reduced to 10 men in the first half.
Barcelona’s 6-1 win against Olympiakos saw it bounce back from a loss to PSG at the start of the month.
Premier League leader Arsenal beat Atletico Madrid 4-0, with Viktor Gyokeres scoring twice, and last season’s Champions League runner-up Inter beat Union Saint-Gilloise by the same score.
Haaland’s goal helped Manchester City to a 2-0 win at Villarreal.
PSG runs wild in Leverkusen
By halftime at the BayArena PSG was 4-1 up – but that didn’t come close to telling the full story of a chaotic first period, which included a red card for each team and two penalties for Leverkusen.
Two goals for Desire Doue put the French champion well in control and the action continued after the break with Nuno Mendes extending the lead within five minutes of the restart. Ousmane Dembele also came off the bench to make a scoring return after injury.
“That’s three games, three wins, and crucially we’re at the top of the UEFA Champions League table,” Dembele said. “We’ve started this campaign really well, especially considering how difficult it was last season.”
Spare a thought for Aleix Garcia, though. As well as his first half penalty, he scored the goal of the game in the second half with a swerving long range effort that was nothing more than a footnote.
Lopez treble
Fermin Lopez scored a hat trick and Marcus Rashford hit two goals as Barcelona blew away 10-man Olympiakos.
Barca took full advantage when Santiago Hezze was shown a contentious red card in the second half — scoring four goals to complete the rout.
It was Lopez’s first hat trick of his career, with Lamine Yamal also on the scoresheet from the penalty spot.
Olympiakos had no answer when Hezze was shown a second yellow card in the 57th minute, despite replays appearing to show he did not make contact with Marc Casado, who was trying to pull him back.
Just three minutes earlier, the visitors had got back into the game at 2-1 after Ayoub El Kaabi’s penalty.
Then with the extra man Barcelona overwhelmed Olympiakos with four goals in 11 minutes.
Rashford, on loan from Manchester United, now has four goals in three games in the Champions League this season.
Arsenal powers past Atletico
Top of the Premier League and perfect in Europe, Arsenal is flying high.
A powerful second half at the Emirates saw Mikel Arteta’s team brush aside Atletico with summer signing Gyokeres sealing the victory with two goals in three minutes. Those goals ended the striker’s seven-game scoring drought for Arsenal.
Harvey Barnes scored twice in Newcastle’s 3-0 win against Benfica and Borussia Dortmund won 4-2 in Copenhagen. JAMES ROBSON, MANCHESTER, MDT/AP
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