Archive October 22, 2025

Five red cards were issued, five goals were scored, and six penalties were awarded, of which five were converted.

Tuesday night’s Champions League game was a relentless one.

Paris St-Germain, who defeated Leverkusen last season, had a player sent off and Alejandro Grimaldo, who was also missing a spot kick.

In a 6-2 victory over Italian champions Napoli, PSV Eindhoven fought back from a goal down before rioting.

Erling Haaland of Manchester City scored for his 12th game in a row, beating Arsenal, Newcastle, and Manchester City.

On a single Champions League night, there have only been twice as many goals as there were in Tuesday’s goalfest.

In the final round of the league phase of the previous season, a record 64 goals were scored.

The 18 games were played at the same time, so the goals-per-game average was lower (3.55), which indicates that.

Only one other Champions League evening has been more advantageous if we consider the statistics for a goal-per-games average across multiple games.

On October 21, 2014, there were 40 goals in eight games (five goals per game), which was 11 years ago.

Before Manchester City could obtain the Champions League trophy, Sergio Aguero and James Milner found the back of the net in a 2-2 draw with CSKA Moscow.

On Tuesday, English clubs scored nine goals, with France, which is only Paris St-Germain’s top scorer, closely followed with seven.

Anthony Gordon and Marcus Rashford both scored twice for the Magpies, and two of them were from England, which scored five goals.

Watch highlights of every Champions League game on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport, and the BBC Sport website and app from 12:00 to eve of the match.

Five red cards were issued, five goals were scored, and six penalties were awarded, of which five were converted.

Tuesday night’s Champions League game was a relentless one.

Paris St-Germain, who defeated Leverkusen last season, had a player sent off and Alejandro Grimaldo, who was also missing a spot kick.

In a 6-2 victory over Italian champions Napoli, PSV Eindhoven fought back from a goal down before rioting.

Erling Haaland of Manchester City scored for his 12th game in a row, beating Arsenal, Newcastle, and Manchester City.

On a single Champions League night, there have only been twice as many goals as there were in Tuesday’s goalfest.

In the final round of the league phase of the previous season, a record 64 goals were scored.

The 18 games were played at the same time, so the goals-per-game average was lower (3.55), which indicates that.

Only one other Champions League evening has been more advantageous if we consider the statistics for a goal-per-games average across multiple games.

On October 21, 2014, there were 40 goals in eight games (five goals per game), which was 11 years ago.

Before Manchester City could obtain the Champions League trophy, Sergio Aguero and James Milner found the back of the net in a 2-2 draw with CSKA Moscow.

On Tuesday, English clubs scored nine goals, with France, which is only Paris St-Germain’s top scorer, closely followed with seven.

Anthony Gordon and Marcus Rashford both scored twice for the Magpies, and two of them were from England, which scored five goals.

Watch highlights of every Champions League game on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport, and the BBC Sport website and app from 12:00 to eve of the match.

In the 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid, it was obvious that there was never a bad time for a striker to score, but Viktor Gyokeres was relieved after a sluggish run. Manager Mikel Arteta believes that this could also mark the start of a more productive spell.

In his next eight games, the £64m signing Gyokeres failed to score in any of his first three goals and appeared glaringly frustrated at times.

However, his team-mates praised his overall impact, and Arteta said he thanked him for his efforts after Arsenal won by 2-0 against West Ham on Saturday.

Due to Kai Havertz’ knee injury, who played 90 minutes and seven times in Arsenal’s first 12 games, the 27-year-old has been forced to play more than expected this season.

However, Gyokeres’ tally now stands at five goals in 12 games, and his manager believes his persistence paid off with his two goals in the thumping win over Atletico on Tuesday.

There was no discussion about it because of everything that we were seeing in terms of what he was bringing to the team and how much he had contributed to it, aside from scoring goals in recent weeks, Arteta said.

“It was about maintaining that belief in himself, that he can enjoy and play freely in that emotional state.”

He had a big smile on his face as he did that, and I believe he did as well today.

In a show of unity from the Arsenal squad, Gyokeres was pushed forward by his team-mates to accept the applause of the crowd and perform his signature celebration on his own.

Arteta added that the gesture demonstrated how much other players value Gyokeres’ improvement of Arsenal.

“We all appreciate Gyokeres because he has improved our team significantly. We’ve gotten much more unpredictable, according to Arteta.

He “opens the spaces for everyone because he’s so physically there.” It’s incredible how he presses and holds the ball.

Then there’s the icing on top, and we’ll start debating goals, which is what.

In his two seasons at the Portuguese club, the 27-year-old did not consistently score 97 goals in 102 games without increasing his total.

He praised his performance, saying, “I am very pleased of course. My goals were both excellent.

“I always try to do my best, put in a lot of effort, contribute, and achieve my goals,” he said.

There is still a long way to go before we can do well and win football games. Even if that sounds monotonous, we will continue to play it game by game.

Arsenal’s excellent season-to-date includes three victories in the Champions League’s league phase, each of which the Gunners won without conceding a goal.

In their 138-year history, the club has won the most goals at this point in its history, winning 10 of their 12 matches in all competitions this year, leading the Premier League by three points, and have conceded only three goals in those contests.

Even Jose Mourinho could not help but throw an arm around Anthony Gordon at full-time.

The Benfica manager had just watched the forward put in a man-of-the-match display in Newcastle’s 3-0 win against his side at St James’ Park.

The Champions League is a stage Gordon clearly relishes – and he is not the only one.

Only the bottom three have scored fewer goals in the Premier League this season than Newcastle, who have seven.

Yet it has been a very different story in Europe.

Newcastle have already netted eight goals in just three games in the Champions League.

This was a night where Eddie Howe’s side had 19 efforts, 10 shots on target and 38 touches in the opposition box.

A potentially awkward opponent ended up being swept aside – but Howe stressed there is “much more to come”.

Howe was certainly not getting carried away.

But the Newcastle head coach will have taken immense encouragement from the contribution of his forwards.

Newcastle have relied on record signing Nick Woltemade, who scored his side’s first goal against Wolves, Arsenal, Union Saint-Gilloise and Brighton in recent weeks, and whose link-up play was again eye-catching on Tuesday night.

But when this game was on a knife-edge, and St James’ Park was tense, Newcastle needed someone else to step up and ease the goalscoring burden.

And Gordon did so when he side-footed home at the back post following Jacob Murphy’s ball across in the 32nd minute.

Murphy had been recalled in place of summer signing Anthony Elanga – and this was a reminder why.

His teasing deliveries set up so many goals for former striker Alexander Isak last season and Gordon benefited from such an assist against Benfica.

Gordon, in the process, became the first Newcastle player ever to score in three successive Champions League games, while only Alan Shearer has more goals in the competition for the club.

“It means everything, but I need to get more,” Gordon told TNT Sport. “My ambition doesn’t stop there.”

This was a crucial contribution, though, as Benfica manager Mourinho needed no reminding.

His forward Dodi Lukebakio had earlier hit the post and forced Nick Pope into a fine save when the match was goalless.

“St James’ was quiet,” Mourinho said. “The fans felt that the game was not easy. They felt Benfica was much closer than Newcastle to score.

“They brought their enthusiasm in set-pieces, which is normal. When you have a team of giants, you know every set-piece, throw-in, lateral free-kick, corner is a dramatic moment for the opponent – and it was the only moment that they brought that enthusiasm and that pressure to the opponent.

Newcastle, crucially, did not ease off after taking the lead, though.

The hosts scored the goal that “killed the game” in the words of Mourinho after the break.

Rather than trying to settle for a 1-0 win, Howe introduced Harvey Barnes midway through the second half alongside Joelinton.

And, just like against Union Saint-Gilloise this month, Barnes looked eager to impress from the bench.

Yet even the substitute will have been surprised by the team-mate who set up his first after Pope single-handedly launched a superb counter-attack with a 65-yard throw from his own box, which Howe hailed as a “thing of beauty”.

Benfica defender Antonio Silva dashed across to try to cut out the danger but misjudged the flight of the ball and Barnes pounced, finishing clinically off the upright.

As much as Newcastle players rushed to celebrate with Barnes, Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn, Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman tellingly mobbed Pope to congratulate him.

But Newcastle, and Barnes, were not finished yet. There was still time for the substitute to add a third after Gordon teed him up.

Barnes, like Gordon, has embraced this stage with the pair scoring seven goals combined in just three games in the competition.

By way of contrast, they have yet to find the net in the Premier League this season.

“It’s a head-scratcher for me,” Howe said. “Because we know their qualities, we know they’re goalscorers, we know how good players they are – and that goes for another few players in the squad.

“When you see us play like we did tonight, how we attacked and the amount of chances we created, it’s a difficult one for us to work out.