Many have claimed the Champions League is losing the ethos of attacking football or even questioning whether it was ever present in the first place, with sides very concerned over conceding an away goal. Yet teams don’t need to worry about this in the Group Stage and it showed on Tuesday night. The games were played in a similar spirit to that of Euro 2008.

A wonderfully open game in Istanbul between Fenerbahce and Arsenal proved exactly this with other games even more eventful. Villarreal hosted Aalborg, whilst Lyon visited Steaua Bucharest – the former bore 9 goals, with only Monaco’s 8-3 win over Deportivo in 2003 surpassing it in terms of goals scored. As for the latter, it didn’t do too badly, with 8 goals plundered altogether.  Those championing catenaccio and defensive solidity must have been ripping their hair out at some of the defensive tactics, but after the record goal tally for a Champions League night was equalled (36), no-one can complain of a lack of value for money. Well…maybe those in Porto could, who only saw the net ripple once. Regardless, it was a stunning long range strike from Aliyev to break the deadlock.

If certain teams weren’t so wasteful in terms of chances, the goal tally would be considerably higher (I’m looking at you, Zenit). The Russian champions would be topping Group H, had they found some finishing ability to complement the countless chances they create. In Istanbul, had it not been for some great goalkeeping and tendency to overplay, the game could have run into double figures with ease. Yet, a large amount of chances created were due to terrible defensive errors. A static back four incapable of playing the offside trap let in Adebayor and Walcott inside two minutes, with goalkeeper Volkan unable to cope with his own side’s defensive inadequacies.

There was no pressing happening in a number of matches, which allowed a number of killer passes to be successfully completed. On the other hand, silly errors gifted goals. Pepe gifted Juventus a second goal by passing straight to Nedved, whose cross was knocked in by summer signing Amauri, with the aid of Heinze’s foot. Yet, some of these weren’t made by the footballers but by the match officials. Dimitar Berbatov’s double at Old Trafford against Celtic was contentious. The cultured Bulgarian strayed slightly offside on both occasions. The linesman failed to pick up Berbatov during either play, yet overall the result was deserved.

Away from the errors, there were truly some stunning efforts on goal. Joseba Llorente’s 17 minute hat-trick for Villarreal will be remembered for a fine volley from the edge of the box into the top right-hand corner. Elsewhere, bar Dmitri Aliyev’s free kick, Del Piero followed up his exquisite set piece on Matchday One with a curling effort that left Iker Casillas rooted to the spot. There was more audacity on show, and unlike Robbie Keane’s failed back-heeled attempt against Atleti on Wednesday, many rippled the net. Lionel Messi’s opener in a 0-5 thrashing of Basel was solely due to the blind pass by Daniel Alves (take a look below).

The Barcelona game was one of the high points on a disappointing night in terms of goals on Wednesday. Football should continue to be played in this vein with the UEFA Cup tonight another chance for attacking football to be present. Hopefully dodgy decisions and unsporting behaviour (as displayed by Maniche and Riera at the Calderon on Wednesday) aren’t.