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Six goals for two-time reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain, five for Barcelona and classically just one for Arsenal as the serious contenders for the UEFA Champions League started with wins on Thursday (AEST).
There was a hat-trick for Ferran Torres – Spain’s FIFA World Cup-winning goalscorer – on his PSG debut in the competition, and two goals for his new teammate Ousmane Dembele in a 6-1 rout of Slovan Bratislava by the European juggernaut.
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At Barcelona, Raphinha scored two more in his rapid-fire start to the season, and Lamine Yamal fired a free-kick through Feyenoord’s defensive wall in an easy 5-1 win.
It was a typically Arsenal 1-0 win at Serie A’s Napoli with the only goal scored by the Premier League champion’s suddenly prolific captain Martin Odegaard.
It’s his fourth goal so far after just one in the whole of last season.
All four English clubs won their opening games after Liverpool rallied to beat LaLiga’s Atletico Madrid 2-1 with goals via midfielders Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister.
However, Liverpool saw their record signing Bradley Barcola limp off with an apparent calf injury in the second half.
Unheralded Stuttgart forward Ermedin Demirovic scored a hat-trick inside 12 first-half minutes in a 3-1 win over Norwegian debutants Viking FK.
Sporting CP beat Galatasaray 3-1 having also trailed early in the game.
The high rate of goals – 45 through the first 12 games in this Champions League campaign at a rate of 3.75 per game – is well above the average of 3.47 last season. That was itself the highest rate since the 1960s in the old European Cup format.