UEFA Champions League: Matchday 3 Findings

GhanaFans.com summarizes the key facts and figures, including record-breaking nights for FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Bayern München and the latest in the head-to-head battle between Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

• The 40 goals scored on Tuesday went straight into the history books for a single eight-game matchnight; the 44 goals registered on October 1, 1997 beat this feat. Wednesday saw 19 more goals added to the tally, which raised the aggregate for matchday three to 59 goals- the second highest in UEFA Champions League history behind the 63 scored on matchday one in the 2000/01 campaign.

• Luiz Adriano is the second player to bang in five goals in a UEFA Champions League match as FC Shakhtar Donetsk beat FC BATE Borisov 7-0, matching Lionel Messi's stellar performance for FC Barcelona against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in March 2012. He became the first player to score four times in the opening period.

• The forward's hat-trick was registered in a space of 13 minutes, the third fastest in the history of the competition. The record is held by Bafétimbi Gomis, who scored three in eight minutes for Olympique Lyonnais against GNK Dinamo Zagreb in December 2011.

• Shakhtar's win ranked as the joint second highest margin of victory in the UEFA Champions League, falling short to only Liverpool FC's 8-0 defeat of Beşiktaş JK in November 2007. It matched the biggest away margin of victory- Olympique de Marseille's 7-0 romping  of MŠK Žilina in November 2010.

• FC Bayern München's 7-1 triumph at AS Roma, marked a matchnight when two clubs scored seven goals for the first time in the competition's history.

• Bayern also stand as the first club to score seven goals in a UEFA Champions League match on two occasions, having thumped Sporting Clube de Portugal by the same 7-1 scoreline at home in March 2009. AS Roma became the first side to concede seven goals two times as they lost 7-1 away against Manchester United FC in April 2007.

• Shakhtar are the first team to score six goals in the first period of a UEFA Champions League game, whereas Bayern are only the third to score five , going up 5-0 before Shakhtar, the first away feat. Bayern had also scored five in the first half, in a 6-1 home win over LOSC Lille in November 2012. The interesting occurrence- the LOSC coach at the time was Rudi Garcia, the same man directing affairs on the Roma bench on Tuesday.

• Club Atlético de Madrid are the seventh club to register five or more goals after the break in a UEFA Champions League match, beating Malmö FF 5-0 after a goalless first half at the Estadio Vicente Calderón.

• PFC Ludogorets Razgrad's 1-0 victory over FC Basel 1893 were the first points for a Bulgarian side in the UEFA Champions League after the ninth attempt. Ludogorets became the 115th club (out of 130 group phase sides) to mark a win in the competition.

• Iker Casillas earned his 143rd cap for Real Madrid CF in Europe's elite competition as they triumphed 3-0 at Liverpool FC, group phase to final, moving him level with Xavi Hernández – who did not play for FC Barcelona at home to AFC Ajax on Tuesday evening – at the top of the all-time player rankings.

• Cristiano Ronaldo scored at Anfield to mark his 70th in the UEFA Champions League, trailing Raúl González by just one goal in the competition's all-time top scorer listings – surpassing Lionel Messi by one, who also scored for Barcelona on Tuesday.

• Karim Benzema scored a brace for Madrid against Liverpool which raised his all-time UEFA Champions League goal count to 40. The French forward is only the 11th player to reach that milestone. Didier Drogba hit the back of the net for the 43rd time in Chelsea FC's 6-0 home triumph over NK Maribor.

• The goalless draw between AS Monaco FC and SL Benfica was the 200th in the UEFA Champions League. AC Milan are the record holders for registering more of those ties than any other club – 21. Manchester United FC trail them with 20.

Credit: uefa.com