The UEFA Champions League produced one of its most dramatic and high-scoring nights in history on Tuesday, as 43 goals were scored across the evening’s league phase fixtures, accompanied by five red cards and six penalties.
The relentless action across Europe saw defending champions Paris St-Germain score seven times against Bayer Leverkusen in a 7-2 victory. That match included red cards for both teams and a missed penalty for the German side’s Alejandro Grimaldo—one of six spot-kicks awarded on the night, five of which were converted.
Elsewhere, PSV Eindhoven staged a remarkable comeback from a goal down to overwhelm Italian champions Napoli in a 6-2 win. English clubs also found success, with Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Manchester City all recording convincing victories. City’s Erling Haaland continued his prolific run, scoring for the 12th consecutive game.
Tuesday’s goal-fest immediately enters the competition’s record books. The 43-goal tally is second only to the 64 goals scored on the final night of last season’s league phase; however, that record was set across 18 simultaneous matches.
The only single Champions League night to feature more goals remains 1 October 1997, when 44 goals were scored across 12 games. That evening famously included Manchester United’s 3-2 win against Juventus, with Paul Scholes and Zinedine Zidane among the goalscorers.
In terms of goals-per-game average, Tuesday’s action was eclipsed by only one other evening in the competition’s history. On 21 October 2014, 40 goals were scored across just eight matches—an average of 5.0 per game, slightly higher than Tuesday’s rate. That night, memorably featured 7-0 wins for both Bayern Munich (at Roma) and Shakhtar Donetsk (at BATE Borisov).
According to official statistics, English clubs were the highest-scoring contingent on Tuesday, netting nine goals. Spanish players were the most prolific individually, scoring six times, half of which came from a hat-trick for Barcelona’s Fermin Lopez. English players contributed five goals, including braces for Newcastle’s Harvey Barnes and Barcelona’s Marcus Rashford.
Only four teams—Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica, Kairat, and Pafos—failed to find the net.
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