Odion Ighalo was an unused substitute once again as England striker Marcus Rashford scored a hat trick off the bench as Manchester United mauled RB Leipzig at Old Trafford to go top of Group H.
Leipzig were unbeaten coming into the fixture and top the German Bundesliga but Julian Nagelsmann’s side were handed a 5-0 hiding as United exploded in the second half to back up their win against Paris St-Germain.
Rashford came on just after the hour mark and scored an 18-minute hat trick, first running clear to calmly slot in, then smashing in a terrific second, before drilling home a third in stoppage time.
Teenage striker Mason Greenwood set the ball rolling in the first half, with his first goal in the competition, springing the offside trap to score a precise finish from Paul Pogba’s through ball.
Greenwood and Anthony Martial then produced good efforts but visiting goalkeeper Peter Gulasci saved well from the duo.
Martial was then tripped in the box with three minutes to go, and he dusted himself to convert the penalty for his first goal of the season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have now extended their unbeaten run to four games in all competitions.
In the Group H’s other game, last year’s runners-up Paris St-Germain picked up their first points with a 2-0 win at Istanbul Basaksehir.
Moise Kean who is on loan at the Paris club from Everton scored twice in the second half to hand PSG victory.
In Group F, Super Eagles striker Emmanuel Dennis was impressive as a save by Lazio goalkeeper Pepe Reina prevented him from getting on the score sheet as his Club Brugge side were held to a 1-1 draw by a depleted Lazio at the Jan Breydel Stadion.
Joaquin Correa scored early for Lazio but Hans Vanaken equalised for the home team from the penalty spot before the break, and it was Brugge who created the better chances in the second period without reward.
Lazio and Brugge have four points at the top of the group after two rounds, with Borussia Dortmund on three and Russian side Zenit Saint Petersburg yet to break their duck.
Borussia Dortmund needed a 78th-minute penalty from Jadon Sancho and a stoppage-time goal from Erling Haaland to beat visitors Zenit St Petersburg 2-0 in Group.
The Germans, who lost their opener to Lazio, controlled the game from the start but carved out few chances before Vyacheslav Karavaev inexplicably wrestled Thorgan Hazard to the ground for Sancho to score from the spot.
Haaland added a second in stoppage time with a powerful run. Dortmund are on three points with Zenit bottom of Group F after two defeats in two games.
Elsewhere, Chelsea kickstarted their Champions League group campaign by coasting to a 4-0 win at Krasnodar thanks to goals from Callum Hudson-Odoi, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and a late strike from Christian Pulisic.
Having drawn their opening game with Sevilla 0-0, Chelsea got off to a slow start against a conservative Krasnodar and passed up a glorious chance to take the lead when Jorginho hit the post from the penalty spot.
Frank Lampard’s side went ahead in the 37th minute with a stroke of fortune when Hudson-Odoi’s tame shot squirmed through the hands of Krasnodar keeper Matvey Safonov.
Krasnodar nearly equalised when Yuri Gazinskiy hit the crossbar in the second half but Chelsea extended their lead when Werner smashed home from the penalty spot in the 76th minute, after Jorginho had been substituted.
Ziyech grabbed his first goal for Chelsea since switching from Ajax Amsterdam by firing low into the net and Pulisic completed the rout in added time, helped by another lapse from Safonov who let the ball trickle through his legs into the net.
Chelsea have four points after two games in Group E and host Rennes next Wednesday. Krasnodar who visit Sevilla next have one point.
Sevilla picked up their first Champions League win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Stade Rennais on Wednesday after outclassing the French side but managing to convert only one of the numerous clear chances they carved out.
Dutch forward Luuk de Jong broke the deadlock in the 55th minute, after Sevilla had dominated the first half, when he raced to meet a cross from Marcos Acuna and found the net with a sidefooted volley.
The Spaniards are second in Group E with four points after two games, level with first-placed Chelsea, while Rennes have one point.
Ousmane Dembele struck early and Lionel Messi converted a late penalty as Barcelona won 2-0 at Juventus after Alvaro Morata had three goals disallowed for offside for the Serie A side.
Dembele struck with a deflected shot in the 14th minute for a Barcelona side smarting from Saturday’s home defeat by Real Madrid and rocked by the resignation of club president Josep Maria Bartomeu on Tuesday.
Messi capped a fluid display from Ronald Koeman’s side by firing home the 14th penalty of his Champions League career to seal Barca’s first-ever win over Juventus in Turin and leave them top of Group G with six points from two games.
Juventus, still missing Cristiano Ronaldo after he tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago and still rebuilding under Andrea Pirlo, failed to record a shot on target despite Morata’s efforts and had defender Merih Demiral sent off for a second booking.
Also in Group G, Hungarian side Ferencvaros fought back from two-goals down to grab a well-deserved 2-2 draw against 10-man Dynamo Kyiv with substitute Franck Boli netting a late equaliser.
Coached by former Dynamo Kyiv striker Serhiy Rebrov, Ferencvaros were staging their first home game in the Champions League in 25 years, and a limited number of fans were allowed in to the ground to witness the spectacle.
Kyiv took the lead when Igor Kharatin was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball in the box and Viktor Tsigankov coolly slotted home the resulting spot kick in the 28th minute, and Carlos De Pena added a second before halftime.
Ferencvaros came out with all guns blazing in the second half and they pulled a goal back in the 59th minute when Tokmac Nguen received an incisive pass from Oleksandr Zubkov in the penalty area before turning and lashing the ball home.
The visitors had Serhiy Sydorchuk sent off for a second yellow card in the 86th minute and Boli made the most of Kyiv’s failure to clear a late free kick when he hooked home the equaliser in the final minute of normal time to secure a draw.
The result leaves Kyiv third in the group on one point, ahead of Ferencvaros on goal difference.
