Article body analysed
Champions League reaction and analysis Arsenal thrash Atletico Madrid 4-0, Newcastle beat Benfica 3-0, Man City win 2-0 at Villareal Analysis: Arsenal 'sure, professional and mature' I Your views: Gunners 'look complete' The stats: 43 goals scored, five red cards handed out and six penalties in nine matches Marcus Rashford scores twice in Barcelona's 6-1 win over Olympiacos Later, Tottenham (at Monaco), Chelsea (v Ajax) and Liverpool (at Eintracht Frankfurt) in action (all 20: 00 BST) Also coming up: Sean Dyche gives first news conference as Nottingham Forest manager (from 14: 30) Click 'Get Involved' at the top of this page to have your say Written by Sam Drury, Sarah Rendell, Adwaidh Rajan & Saffie Yates. Newcastle 3-0 Benfica Newcastle forward Harvey Barnes, who scored twice last night, told TNT Sport: "Last season we weren't in Europe and that hurt the players - this is what we want to be in, there is nothing better. "A few times when we have gone ahead in games we have not quite gone for that second or third goal and it has cost us. This is when we are at our best - playing attacking football with the crowd behind us. The third goal killed the game off which was important. " Use the form at the top of this page All the praise for Gordon and Barnes, and rightly so as they were excellent; but a word for Woltemade who was involved in just about everything going forward for Newcastle. Such a complete striker, compliments our style, great touch and an upgrade on Isak. Martin, Shrewsbury Newcastle 3-0 Benfica Ciaran Kelly BBC Sport reporter Nick Woltemade has made an impressive start to his Newcastle career, but the German has had to shoulder the goalscoring burden very quickly since his £69m move from Stuttgart. Woltemade has scored four of Newcastle's past five goals in the Premier League and they needed others to step up. In this competition, both Gordon and Barnes have done so. After scoring his first ever Champions League goal in the 2-1 defeat against Barcelona, which ended up proving a mere consolation, Gordon followed that up with a couple of penalties in the 4-0 rout of Union Saint-Gilloise. But this was his most crucial contribution yet. St James' was tense, nervy even, after Newcastle escaped a couple of scares following Lukebakio's efforts. But the momentum of the game and, indeed, the atmosphere changed once Gordon opened the scoring. And what about Barnes? Like Gordon, he has yet to find the back of the net in the Premier League this season but has also come alive in Europe, scoring three goals in three appearances. Woltemade may have failed to find the back of the net, but it did not matter because his team-mates stepped up. Use the form at the top of this page I have a lot of confidence that our league form will pick up. Woltemade really does bring something very different to our attack. Get those full-backs fit & Wissa ready, we'll start climbing the table quickly. Rob Anders, Newcastle Newcastle 3-0 Benfica Newcastle manager Eddie Howe told TNT Sports on the 3-0 win over Benfica: "I am really pleased. Benfica are a very good team so we had to show our quality. I thought we were patient, we had chances and didn't score early but we kept at it. "Once we scored our second goal, you saw the real us and what we can be. I thought we were excellent afterwards. " And on if this is the best squad he has assembled at the club: "We have strength, but it is on paper - you have to go and prove it. The squad last season won a trophy, we have to go to work and prove the strength of the squad warrants the feeling I have. "We are full of good players, we haven't quite clicked into gear yet but hopefully this is the start of what we can be. " On Nick Pope's assist: "I can't take credit for that! We are working on a few things with Nick with his distribution and his throwing is a big strength of his. He is a very good goalkeeper and he showed that today. " Right then, apparently it wasn't just Arsenal playing last night. .. ? Turns out there was a game in the North East as well. .. Use the form at the top of this page Arsenal's vision is spot on! Is it better to buy a world class striker? If he's out (red card or injury) it's back to just a good team. Arsenal's vision was to have a B team as good as the A team, which makes them unpredictable, always fresh and scary! Philippe, Robert The 43 goals scored on Tuesday in the Champions League were scored by players from 20 nations. There were five goals from English players, with both Barcelona's Marcus Rashford and Newcastle's Harvey Barnes netting twice, while Anthony Gordon was also on the scoresheet for the Magpies. Spanish players scored more, though, with Barcelona hat-trick hero Fermin Lopez accounting for half of the six goals from players from his nation. Players from Algeria, Argentina, Ecuador, Georgia, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the United States all scored one goal. Use the form at the top of this page Far too many meaningless games in CL, designed to ensure the big boys progress. Games without any jeopardy just dilute the competition. PSG showed last year, you only need to do enough to scrape through and then take it seriously from the knockout stages. Paul, Melbourne Of the 43 goals scored, English clubs contributed the highest amount on Tuesday with nine, but France - led solely by Paris St-Germain - followed closely behind with seven. Only Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium), Benfica (Portugal), Kairat (Kazakhstan) and Pafos (Cyprus) failed to score. There were 43 goals scored, five red cards handed out and six penalties awarded - of which five were converted. It was a relentless evening of Champions League football on Tuesday. Last season's winners Paris St-Germain hit seven past Leverkusen, with both teams having a player sent off and the German side's Alejandro Grimaldo missing a spot-kick. While PSV Eindhoven fought back from a goal down before running riot in a 6-2 win against Italian champions Napoli. Only twice before have there been more goals scored on a single Champions League night than in Tuesday's goalfest. Last season, in the final round of the league phase, there were a record 64 goals. However, that was when all 18 games were played at the same time, so there was a lower goals-per-game average (3. 55). Back on 1 October 1997 there were 44 goals scored in 12 games. Paul Scholes and Zinedine Zidane were among the names on the scoresheet as Manchester United beat Juventus 3-2 at Old Trafford that evening. All in good time, David. Arsenal were also very good last night so we needed to talk about that as well. As it goes, we're moving on now. But as you have been so polite and said please, I will let you know that we'll be giving both Newcastle and Manchester City their moments in the spotlight shortly. First, though, let's appreciate a wild night in the Champions League as a whole. .. Use the form at the top of this page Every time I look at BBC Sport it’s always Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal. Why the obsession? Newcastle were amazing last night. Man City too. It is ridiculous. Sort it out please! ! David, Gateshead Arsenal 4-0 Atletico Madrid Champions League Last night's win means Arsenal join defending champions Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan at the top of the Champions League table with three wins from three matches. The Gunners are one of only two sides yet to concede a goal in this season's competition, Inter being the other. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Qarabag could also maintain their perfect start to the league phase if they record wins tonight. Meanwhile, Manchester City moved into fifth place with seven points from three games and Newcastle United are seventh on six points. Tottenham have four points from two games while Liverpool and Chelsea are on three - all three sides will be in action later today. Arsenal 4-0 Atletico Madrid Former Brighton striker Glenn Murray speaks on Victor Gyokeres, who scored twice for Arsenal last night after a long goal draught, not consistently scoring goals on the Football Daily Podcast: "As a former striker, I'd want to score goals. I could run around out there, and I could be a platform and play well if I didn't get a goal, but it didn't quite feel the same. "You could see what it meant to him, especially that second goal, and the pressure that has been lifted. He does offer something, and that is a real positive when you've got a number nine that even if he isn't scoring, is affecting the way the opposition play. But from a personal point of view, you always want to get that goal. "All of a sudden, he's in the right place at the right time, and Gabriel headed that back across. Again it wasn't a pretty goal, but it doesn't matter. He walks away two goals. "I saw him collect man of the match. And as far as he's concerned, that confidence in himself and his teammates in him is just growing all the time. " To be fair, Michael, Myles Lewis-Skelly got plenty of praise last season when he was playing more regularly. He's started Arsenal's past two Champions League games but he's not featured from the start in any Premier League games yet - in fact, he's only played 83 minutes in the league all season. If he can get himself back into the starting XI and is playing well then I'm sure the praise will come again. .. Use the form at the top of this page Lewis-Skelly was once again top tier last night, just so press resistant in the way he plays and with a great assist for the 2nd goal, he deserves way more praise than he gets from fans and pundits alike. Michael Cantwell, Chingford Arsenal 4-0 Atletico Madrid Glenn Murray Former Crystal Palace & Brighton striker on the Football Daily podcast Once Arsenal got their noses in front, they smelt blood and just showed a sureness, a professionalism and a maturity. Atletico had done well with the game at 0-0 and threatened to take the lead but once Arsenal went in front, they blew Atletico away. I was really impressed by Viktor Gyokeres' attitude. You can feel the Arsenal fans willing him to do well here. He was closing down. He was a real catalyst. When you're a midfield player and you see your forward player closing down with that intensity, it drags you along at times and he did that. But he added goals to his game and that was massive. They weren't pretty but it doesn't matter. It hit the back of the net and gave him that confidence. As Rezaa and Daniel have just said, there's no doubt Arsenal look pretty formidable this season. The summer signings have given them the squad depth they lacked last season - even before injuries struck. Might there be a concern on an over-reliance on set pieces? Perhaps but, certainly in the Premier League, with other contenders still having issues to address, the Gunners look in a great position to go one better after three straight second-place finishes. Their start in Europe suggests they should be considered among the favourites for the Champions League as well. .. The quality in squad depth at Arsenal is scary. From Trossard and Calafiori on the left against Fulham to Martinelli and Miles Lewis-Skelly against Atletico Madrid, with Odegaard, Havertz and Madueke out injured, Norgaard, Ben White and Mosquera coming on for Zubimendi, Timber and Gabriel, wow. Arsenal look complete. Rezaa Sait, South Africa Arsenal look the real deal. If they can grind out results like this, who's to say the can't go all the way? They have a good squad who trust each other and their manager, and they've found a formula that works. Could have been different with Raya's howler, but a win is a win. Daniel Herbert, Isle of Wight Last Updated 22nd October 2025 at 02: 21 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
