71 goals! With the third round of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League, a new record for goals scored in a single round has been set. Of the 18 matches in this round, 11 saw at least four goals, and as many as six saw at least five. Barcelona's 6-1 victory over Olympiacos, PSV Eindhoven's 6-2 victory over Napoli, and Bayer Leverkusen's 2-7 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain were all goal-heavy matches. On October 23rd, Liverpool, after suffering four consecutive defeats, regained their confidence against Eintracht Frankfurt, sweeping their opponents 5-1 away.

This record-breaking single-round goal tally dates back to the 1992/93 season, when the Champions League was restructured into the group stage, and does not include the second group stage from the 1999/2000 to 2002/03 seasons. The previous record was 67 goals in 18 matches during Round 5 of the 2024/25 season and Round 1 of the 2025/26 season. In Round 5 of the 2024/25 season, nine matches saw at least five goals, while in Round 1 of the 2025/26 season, only five matches saw at least five goals. In Round 1 of this season, Juventus drew 4-4 with Dortmund, scoring eight goals in a single match, but this was surpassed by Bayer Leverkusen's 2-7 defeat of Paris Saint-Germain in Round 3 of this season.

The third round, which set the Champions League goal record, began with Barcelona's 6-1 victory over Olympiacos on October 22nd. Paris Saint-Germain scored seven goals, Chelsea and Liverpool each scored five, and Arsenal, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, and Dortmund each scored four. The only exception was Eredivisie's PSV Eindhoven, who scored six.

Of the 11 matches with at least four goals, nine were scored by top-flight teams from the top five leagues. In addition to the aforementioned matches, Athletic Bilbao defeated Qarabag 3-1 and Galatasaray defeated Bodø 3-1. It's worth noting that despite the record-breaking total number of goals scored in a single round, three of the 18 matches in Round 3 ended in goalless draws, including Monaco's 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, a match between two top-flight teams.

Paris Saint-Germain's 7-2 away victory over Bayer Leverkusen was undoubtedly the record-breaking scorer in Round 3 of the Champions League. This 7-2 victory tied the record for most goals scored in a single match in Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League history. The previous record was a 7-2 home victory over Rosenborg of Norway in Round 5 of the 2000/01 group stage, and a 7-2 home victory over Maccabi Haifa in Round 5 of the 2022/23 group stage. However, matches with similar scores clearly lack the significance of this away victory over Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen.

This isn't Paris Saint-Germain's biggest single-game victory. They've previously scored seven goals in two Champions League matches, achieving even greater victories: a 7-1 home victory over Celtic in the fifth round of the 2017/18 Champions League, and a 7-0 home victory over Brest in the 2024/25 Champions League knockout play-offs. In the 2024/25 Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain set a club record with a 38-goal performance. In 2025, they've already scored 45 goals, becoming the first team in Champions League history to score more than 40 goals in a single calendar year. Fourteen of these goals came in just two matches against Brest and Bayer Leverkusen. With three more matches remaining in this year's Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain faces Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur, and Athletic Bilbao, hoping to reach the 50-goal mark in a single calendar year.

The only exception was defending Serie A champions Napoli, who suffered a crushing 2-6 defeat away to PSV Eindhoven. They became the first Serie A team to concede six goals in a single Champions League match since Roma lost 1-6 to Barcelona in 2015. Napoli tied the previous Serie A record for most goals conceded in a single Champions League group stage match (Leverkusen 4-4 Roma in the 2014/15 season). This also marks Napoli's shameful record for both the most goals conceded and the most net goals conceded in a single Champions League match.

For Serie A, this result was only bettered by Manchester United's 7-1 victory over Roma in the 2006/07 quarter-finals and Roma's 1-7 loss to Bayern Munich in the 2014/15 group stage. However, Roma's losses in those games were against top-tier teams in the top five leagues, Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Napoli's 6-0 away defeat by an Eredivisie team has surpassed those previous humiliations. AC Milan lost 7-0 in the 1958/59 Champions League qualifiers, but that's not included in this season's Champions League statistics.

In the 18 matches of the third round of this season's Champions League, 71 goals were scored, averaging 3.94 goals per game. Conversely, the five teams in the standings with three wins from all three matches—Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Arsenal, and Real Madrid—are all from the top five leagues. Even the top 11 teams are from the top five leagues, demonstrating a clear dominance of the top five leagues. When UEFA announced this record-breaking single-round match, it also raised the question: Are we witnessing the most exciting Champions League season in recent memory?

Based solely on the number of goals scored, perhaps that's the case. Before the Champions League reforms, the record for goals scored in a single group stage match was 58 in the 2012/13 season, but the average number of goals per game was 3.625, lower than in this round. Since the Champions League's format was restructured last season, the number of goals scored in a single round has exceeded 60 five times, with this being the first time it has surpassed 70. Of course, from another perspective, the continued occurrence of large scorelines also demonstrates the disparity in strength at this stage of the Champions League, and whether the competition has truly improved in terms of viewing experience remains debatable. However, in terms of generating more goals and increasing fan engagement, the new Champions League has been a resounding success.