Arsenal thrash Atletico as Barcelona, PSG record massive victories
It was a wild night of football in the UEFA Champions League, as 43 goals were scored across Europe on Day 1 of Matchday 3.
Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and Arsenal were among the biggest winners, turning their matches into goal fests.
At the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, the Spanish giants crushed Olympiakos 6–1 in front of a noisy home crowd.
Fermin Lopez scored a brilliant hat trick — the first of his career — while Marcus Rashford, on loan from Manchester United, added two more goals.
Lamine Yamal also scored from the penalty spot as Barcelona took full control after Olympiakos went down to 10 men in the second half.
The visitors had briefly pulled one back through a penalty by Ayoub El Kaabi, but their hopes ended when Santiago Hezze was shown a second yellow card in the 57th minute.
From then on, Barcelona dominated, scoring four times in just 11 minutes to complete a one-sided contest.
In London, Arsenal put up one of their best performances of the season with a commanding 4–0 win over Atletico Madrid.
After a quiet first half, Gabriel opened the scoring with a powerful header before Gabriel Martinelli doubled the lead with a fine finish. Viktor Gyökeres then sealed the result with two quick goals, giving the Gunners a comfortable victory and three vital points in the group.
Arsenal are yet to concede a goal in the UEFA Champions League this season.
The only other team with a perfect defensive record is Inter.
There were fireworks in Germany too, where PSG tore apart Bayer Leverkusen 7–2 in an incredible display of attacking football.
The French champions were unstoppable on the night, punishing every defensive mistake by the home team and showing their class all over the pitch.
Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund beat FC Copenhagen 4–2 in a thrilling game filled with end-to-end action. The Danish side tried to fight back twice, but Dortmund’s quality in front of goal made the difference.
At St. James’ Park, Newcastle United were dominant against Benfica, running out 3–0 winners.
The English side were sharp in attack and solid in defence, giving their fans plenty to cheer about on their return to European competition.
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PSV Eindhoven also made headlines with a stunning 6–2 victory over Napoli.
The Dutch side’s attacking power proved too much for the Italian champions, who struggled to cope with PSV’s speed and creativity.
In Belgium, Inter Milan were ruthless as they beat Union Saint-Gilloise 4–0 away from home. The Italian team were calm, organised, and efficient, cruising to a comfortable win.
Manchester City were steady and professional in Spain, beating Villarreal 2–0 to keep their perfect start alive.
First-half goals from Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva did the work as Pep Guardiola’s men easily controlled the game and rarely looked in trouble.
The only goalless match came in Kazakhstan, where Kairat Almaty earned their first-ever Champions League point after a 0–0 draw with Pafos FC.
Across all venues, fans were treated to one of the most exciting Champions League nights in recent memory — a total of 43 goals in just nine matches.