LONDON — The Champions League is delivering a historic goals boom, with 187 goals scored at an average of 4.16 per game — the highest in Champions League history and the third highest in European Cup history behind only 1955-56 (4.38) and 1959-60 (4.19) — since the current format was introduced at the start of the 2024-25 season.
The surge has been driven by extraordinary matchdays. Forty goals were scored across nine games on Tuesday, while last Wednesday saw 46 goals — the third highest-scoring day in Champions League history, bettered only by the final league-phase matchdays of 2024-25 and 2025-26 when 18 matches took place. The 78 goals across Tuesday and Wednesday last week made matchday two the highest scoring in history, nine more than the 69 scored on matchday one, which at the time was the second highest since the new league phase began. Phil Foden scored a hat-trick in Manchester City's 5-1 win over AEK Athens among the standout results.
"Look how many goals have been scored, it's phenomenal," ex-Manchester United and England winger Ashley Young said on BBC Radio 5 Live. "The attackers are being clinical." Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock described the volume of goals as "incredible", while The Times football writer Tom Arnott added: "I think the entertainment has gone up, although I'm not sure the quality has gone up."
Ever since Uefa announced plans to alter the format in 2021, the impact has been scrutinised. The 32-team group stage of eight groups of four was replaced in 2024-25 by a 36-team league phase, with each side playing eight one-off fixtures instead of six games against three opponents. The top eight qualify directly for the knockout stages, those placed ninth to 24th enter a two-legged play-off, and the bottom eight are eliminated — meaning 24 sides remain in contention after eight matches.
Some argue that lack of jeopardy encourages more expansive football. "If I'm looking at the games it's brilliant to watch and thrilling because the football itself is fantastic - but what do they mean?" Arnott said. "Why would PSG and Barcelona play for a draw, why not go for it? If you need five wins from the eight games you know you've got some margin there. If you lose it's OK. I think the format allows all the teams to loosen up. The entertainment value is there but I think you come away from these matches sometimes and still think 'what does it all mean?'. The lack of jeopardy early on does deliver entertainment." The goals flow follows Phil Foden's hat-trick in Manchester City's 5-1 thrashing of AEK Athens last week, with the record already halfway to falling again this week.