No jeopardy but loads of fun - Champions League sets new goals record

More teams, more games - and more goals.

Since the current Champions League format was introduced at the start of the 2024-25 season, Europe's elite club competition has delivered all of the above and more.

Especially the goals part.

Already trending upwards over the past two campaigns, there has been a genuine goals boom in this year's competition.

The 187 goals scored so far have come at an average of 4.16 per game - the highest in Champions League history.

"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" - so how unusual is it?

Ready for lots of numbers?

Not only is the current goals-per-game percentage the highest ever in the Champions League, it is the third highest in European Cup history - behind only 1959-60 (4.19) and 1955-56 (4.38).

While 40 goals were scored across nine games on Tuesday, last week was even more spectacular.

Last Wednesday saw the third highest-scoring day in Champions League history (46 goals), bettered only by the final league-phase matchdays of 2024-25 and 2025-26, when 18 matches took place.

The 78 goals scored across Tuesday and Wednesday last week made matchday two the highest scoring in history.

That was nine more than the total scored on matchday one this season (69) - which, at the time, was the second highest-scoring matchday since the new league phase was introduced in 2024-25.

Will we see the record fall again this week? It's already halfway there.

Ever since Uefa announced its plans to alter the format of the Champions League in 2021, the impact on matches has been a hot topic. Scrutiny has only increased since the changes were implemented in time for the 2024-25 season.

After beginning life as a six-team invitational tournament in 1955-56 before growing to a 32-team knockout tournament in 1967, the Champions League as we know it began in 1992.

A group stage was added, with the last 16 entering a knockout phase. There was a brief spell with two group stages, but this was reverted back to the single group-stage format for the 2003-04 tournament.

The group stage previously featured 32 teams in eight groups of four, with the top two sides from each of those groups qualifying for the last 16.

For the start of the 2024-25 season, the group stage was replaced with a 36-team league phase, with each side playing eight one-off fixtures instead of six games against three teams.

The top eight finishers qualify directly for the knockout stages, with those placed ninth to 24th entering a two-legged play-off stage.

The bottom eight are eliminated, meaning that after eight matches, 24 sides are still in the competition. Some argue that that creates a lack of jeopardy, which encourages teams to play more expansively.

But do more goals equal better quality?

"I think the entertainment has gone up, although I'm not sure the quality has gone up," The Times football writer Tom Arnott told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"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?

"The lack of jeopardy, 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."

Watch highlights of every Champions League game from 22:00 on Wednesday on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

There will also be a Champions League Match of the Day on BBC One on Wednesday, from 22:40 to 00:00.