UCL delivers chaotic, memorable night

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 on Tuesday.

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 Olympiacos 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

PSG was 4-1 up by halftime at the BayArena — 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 from 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 Olympiacos.

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.

Olympiacos 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 visitor had got itself back into the game after an Ayoub El Kaabi's penalty made it 2-1.

With the extra man, Barcelona overwhelmed Olympiacos 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.

"Sometimes it's difficult to break opponents down, but we have so many goalscoring players in different areas that getting goals is the least of our worries," he said.

Arsenal blows past Atleti

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 the Gunners.

"I am delighted, as he fully deserves it. The work rate he brings to the team is outstanding. We value a lot of things that he does for the team, and it was the biggest smile on his face today," Arteta said.

Goals from Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli had given Arsenal a 2-0 lead before Gyokeres struck.

Arsenal is now third in the standings — behind PSG and Inter on goal difference.

Red-hot Haaland

Haaland just can't stop scoring right now.

The Norway international's opener at Villarreal was his 24th in 14 games this season and extended his current scoring streak to 12 games in a row. He now has 53 goals in the Champions League in just 51 appearances.

The only game he didn't score in this term was City's 2-0 defeat to Tottenham in August.

Bernardo Silva was also on target as City moved up to fifth.

"I see that things are looking good, we are playing a little bit better day after day, and that's a good sign," coach Pep Guardiola told broadcaster Movistar.

PSV stuns Napoli

The biggest shock of the night was Napoli's defeat at PSV.

That's back-to-back losses for Antonio Conte's team, following Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Torino. And such a heavy loss in Europe will be particularly humbling for the Italian champion, with three goals conceded in the last 10 minutes after being reduced to 10 men when Lorenzo Lucca was sent off in the 76th.

Napoli has just one win from three games in Europe so far.

It's going better for Inter, which has a 100 percent record after three games and comfortably overcame Union Saint-Gilloise, with Lautaro Martinez scoring his third Champions League goal of the season.

Newcastle too good

Harvey Barnes scored twice in Newcastle's 3-0 win against Benfica and Borussia Dortmund won 4-2 in Copenhagen.

Eddie Howe's men bounced back from defeat to Barcelona in their opening game to climb above both the Catalan club and Real Madrid to seventh place in the Champion's League standings.

"I think once we scored the second goal, you sort of saw the real us, what we can be," said manager Howe. "I thought we were excellent from that point onwards."

Jose Mourinho described himself as a "little Magpie" to Portuguese press last month due to his respect for his mentor and former Newcastle boss Bobby Robson, who is immortalized by a statue at St James' Park.

Robson gave Mourinho his break by employing him on his coaching staff as a translator at Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona.

"In the first half, the result was totally undeserved. Then in the second half, with the second goal, it completely turned around and the result is more than fair," said Mourinho.

"It is the difference in quality between the two teams. They are more physical, more intense, faster and they have a bench with phenomenal players."

Agencies Via Xinhua