Bayern Munich and Shakhtar Donetsk scored 7 goals apiece away to Roma and BATE Borisov while Chelsea thrashed Maribor 6-0 on a night which saw 40 Champions League goals scored on a single night of European action for the first time since October 1997.
Bayern won 7-1 at the Stadio Olimpico with Arjen Robben grabbing a brace in a majestic first half display by the away side who were 5-0 up inside 35 minutes with Mario Gotze, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller via a penalty also getting on the score sheet. Gervinho scored for Roma in the second half but substitutes Franck Ribery and Xherdan Shaqiri made it 7-1.
In Group H, Shakhtar Donetsk through Luiz Adriano ran riot in Belarus with a 7-0 win after being 6-0 up at half time with the Brazilian forward bagging five goals.
In the early kick off in Russia, CSKA Moscow clawed back from a two goal deficit to draw 2-2 against English Champions Manchester City who had taken a 2 goal lead through Sergio Aguero and James Milner.
Chelsea beat Maribor 6-0 as Didier Drogba completed his home coming with a penalty after Loic Remy had opened the scoring. John Terry added the third before an own goal and a brace from Eden Hazard completed the scoring.
Barcelona beat Ajax 3-1 with goals from Neymar and Lionel Messi before substitute Sandro secured the win with a 93rd minute goal.
Schalke beat 10 man Sporting Lisbon 4-3 in a dramatic encounter while PSG bagged a dramatic late winner at APOEL through Edinson Cavani who celebrated by doing the sniper pose, but this time with the ‘gun’ pointed towards the ground.
Athletic Bilbao‘s wretched run continued as they lost 2-1 at Porto.