Brussels: The Champions League burst into life on Tuesday with 36 goals in eight matches, including 24 in just three games, to equal a competition record with Villarreal leading the goal fest thanks to a 6-3 victory over AaB Aalborg (as briefly reported in Wednesday’s Late City edition).

Olympique Lyon beat Steaua Bucharest 5-3 in Romania while Arsenal thrashed Fenerbahce 5-2 in Turkey as the competition equalled a goalscoring record set on September 13, 2000.

Steaua Bucharest coach Marius Lacatus resigned on Wednesday, saying: “I prefer to sacrifice myself and leave, so that Steaua won’t suffer after string of poor results.”

Manchester United enjoyed a 3-0 win over Celtic at Old Trafford after a second Champions League double in a row from Dimitar Berbatov kept the champions top of group E.

Villarreal substitute Joseba Llorente’s hattrick helped the Spanish side keep pace in the same group as they overwhelmed their Danish opponents having gone behind to an early goal.

Alessandro del Piero and Amauri gave Juventus a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in group H in Turin where Ruud Van Nistelrooy pulled a goal back for the visitors who could not find an equaliser. Juventus are top on seven points with Real just a point behind.

Zenit St Petersburg were held 1-1 by BATE Borisov in Tuesday’s early kick-off in that group, leaving the Russian Uefa Cup holders bottom on one point with their Belarusian opponents also struggling a mere point above them in the standings.

Bayern Munich beat Fiorentina 3-0 to stay top of group F on seven points, two points ahead of Lyon who overcame Steaua with two goals each from Karim Benzema and substitute Fred. Fiorentina are third on two points while the Romanians have just one point.

In the group E game at the Madrigal, Villarreal triumphed thanks to goals from Giuseppe Rossi and Joan Capdevila in a five-minute spell before Llorente came off the bench to score three times while Robert Pires also netted late on.

United and Villarreal are level on seven points after three matches with Celtic on one along with Aalborg.

Arsenal remained in pole position in group G after their demolition of Fenerbahce in Istanbul. Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott scored early on before Abou Diaby, Alexandre Song and Aaron Ramsey wrapped up the win. Mikael Silvestre’s deflected own goal mattered little.

“We came here and tried to dictate the game in a very heated atmosphere. I’m very proud of that,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

The English side have seven points, two ahead of Dynamo Kiev who beat Porto 1-0. The struggling Portuguese have three points and Fenerbahce just one point. (Reuters)