There was a goal rush in the Champions League on Tuesday and it was hardly a surprise to see Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah among the scorers. By converting coolly taken penalties late in their games, Messi and Salah sealed 3-2 wins for Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool, respectively, on a chaotic night when 35 goals were scored across eight group matches — at an average of nearly 4.4 goals.
Ajax produced perhaps the best performance of the lot in overwhelming Borussia Dortmund 4-0, with Sebastien Haller netting his sixth goal of the group stage in just three rounds of games.
Messi rescued the French club in its 3-2 win over Leipzig, equalising in the 67th and then producing a cheeky “Panenka” penalty down the middle to complete PSG’s comeback.
Salah became the first player in Liverpool’s 129-year history to score in nine straight games in all competitions, netting an early deflected goal after a mazy dribble and then stroking in a 78th-minute penalty to clinch a 3-2 victory at Atletico Madrid.
Inter beat Moldovan upstart Sheriff 3-1 for its first win and goals of the group stage, lifting the Italian champion to within two points of the lead in Group D.
The results: Group A: Club Brugge (Vanaken 81) 1 lost to Manchester City 5 (Cancelo 30, Mahrez 43-pen, 84, Walker 53, Palmer 67); PSG 3 (Mbappe 9, Messi 67, 74-pen) bt RB Leipzig 2 (Andre Silva 28, Mukiele 57).
Group B: Atletico Madrid 2 (Griezmann 20, 34) lost to Liverpool 3 (Salah 8, 78-pen, Keita 13); Porto 1 (Diaz (65) bt AC Milan 0.
Group C: Ajax 4 (Reus 11-og, Blind 25, Antony 57, Haller 72) bt Borussia Dortmund 0; Besiktas 1 (Larin 24) lost to Sporting Lisbon 4 (Coates 15, 27, Sarabia 44-pen, Paulinho 89).
Group D: Shakhtar Donetsk 0 lost to Real Madrid 5 (Kryvtsov 37-og, Vinicius Jr 51, 56, Rodrygo 64, Benzema 90+1); Inter Milan 3 (Dzeko 34, Vidal 58, de Vrij 67) bt Sheriff 1 (Thill 52).
