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PARIS. — The goal machines of Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Shakhtar Donetsk cranked into top gear on Tuesday night as the Champions League soccer captivated its continental audience with a record 44 goals in one eight-game night.
Bayern, who humbled Roma 7-1, Chelsea, who beat Maribor 6-0, and Shakhtar, who enjoyed a 7-0 win at Bate Borisov, contributed 20 between them on an evening to forget for defenders and goalkeepers alike.

Ukraine’s Shakhtar became the first team to score six times in the first half of a Champions League match, and their victory was the joint-best for an away side.

Shakhtar’s Brazilian striker Luiz Adriano became the first player to score four goals before half-time — and at 17 minutes he now holds the competition record for the quickest four-goal tally.

He added another late on to join Lionel Messi as the only players to have netted five times in a Champions League outing.
Messi scored once in Barcelona’s 3-1 victory over Ajax to pull level with Cristiano Ronaldo on 69 Champions League goals, two behind all-time leading scorer Raul.

Chelsea’s win against Maribor was their record victory in the Champions League.
In another high-scoring contest, Schalke beat Sporting 4-3.

Bayern Munich produced a stunning display to demolish Roma 7-1 on Tuesday but they were not the biggest winners on the most prolific evening in Champions League history.

A record 44 goals were scored in just eight group games as Shakhtar Donetsk destroyed BATE Borisov 7-0 in Belarus and Chelsea recorded their biggest win in the competition, thumping Maribor 6-0 at Stamford Bridge.

There were also wins for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Schalke and Porto while Manchester City drew 2-2 away to CSKA Moscow, but it was Bayern who stole the show.

Pep Guardiola’s side underlined their status as one of the contenders to win the Champions League as they took apart a Roma outfit who had enjoyed a fine start to the campaign.

An Arjen Robben brace, Mario Goetze, Robert Lewandowski and a Thomas Mueller penalty made it 5-0 at the break in the Group E game.
Gervinho got one back for Roma in the second half before substitutes Franck Ribery and Xherdan Shaqiri added further goals in a performance reminiscent of Germany’s 7-1 win over Brazil in the World Cup semi-final in July, a game in which five of Bayern’s line-up against Roma featured.

“This is a one-off result, it doesn’t reflect the true difference between the sides,” a modest Guardiola later said.
However, Bayern’s performance was outdone by Shakhtar, as the Ukrainians romped to a remarkable victory away to BATE in Group H.
Brazilian forward Luiz Adriano became only the second player to score five goals in a Champions League game after Lionel Messi, with his tally including four goals in the space of 16 first-half minutes. — AFP.