Haaland, Mbappe and Kane shine as Champions League opens with combined 69-goal thrillers
By Luke Oluoch, September 11, 2026Big-name stars were among the attackers on target as the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League season kicked off, with Matchday 1 concluding on Thursday, September 10, 2026.
The fixtures saw a total of 69 goals scored as Europe’s top stars launched a new race for the UEFA Golden Boot prize and the continent’s overall top scorer award, which was claimed by Harry Kane last season with 73 goals in the campaign.
Hat-trick heroes
Following the opening matchday of the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League league phase, Ermedin Demirović (VfB Stuttgart) and Ferran Torres (Paris Saint-Germain) lead the goalscoring charts after each netting impressive hat-tricks.
Demirović struck three times in 13 minutes during Stuttgart’s 3-1 win over Viking, while Torres matched him a few hours later with a hat-trick in PSG’s 6-1 thrashing of Slovan Bratislava.
Right behind the joint-leaders with 2 goals each are several players who opened their accounts with a brace. Erling Haaland, Raphinha, Ousmane Dembélé, and Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise joined the crowded list of brace heroes on Matchday 1.
Kylian Mbappé – who claimed the top scorer honour after netting 15 goals – started right where he left off, netting the opener for José Mourinho’s side in a 2-1 win over Inter Milan.
Mbappe got the opener before Federico Valverde added the second as Madrid battled to victory at home against the former competition winners. Christian Chivu’s men late goal from Carlos Augusto only set up a tense ending to the game.
The Frenchman, Haaland, and Harry Kane rank among the world’s leading marksmen expected to go head-to-head in the new European calendar, as the stars similarly chase the all-time leading scorer record of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 140 goals.
Also Read: 140 UEFA goals: How Mbappé and Haaland are chasing Ronaldo’s record
The Englishman’s new UCL campaign also kicked off with a goal as Bayern walloped Bodø/Glimt 5-0. The striker scored from a header after coming on as a substitute. It was his fifth consecutive game scoring in the UCL, building on his run from last season.