Liverpool and Aston Villa delivered emphatic Champions League victories on Wednesday night, scoring 12 goals between them as the Premier League pair continued their strong starts to the league phase.
Liverpool defeated LASK 6-3 in Austria, inspired by Bradley Barcola's hat-trick, while Aston Villa recorded a historic 6-0 victory over Fenerbahce at Villa Park. Pasted text (2) Pasted text
Liverpool took control of their contest midway through the first half when Ronald Araujo headed home Kostas Tsimikas' corner in the 22nd minute.
Only 96 seconds later, Barcola doubled the advantage, finishing a move involving Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Koumas to register his first goal for Liverpool.
The French winger struck again in the 37th minute after Florian Wirtz released him into the area, giving Liverpool a commanding 3-0 half-time lead.
Jeremie Frimpong added a fourth shortly after the restart, heading home another Tsimikas delivery.
LASK pulled one back through substitute Robert Ljubicic in the 63rd minute, but Barcola quickly restored Liverpool's four-goal advantage by completing his hat-trick three minutes later.
Koumas made it 6-1 in the 72nd minute after being supplied by Frimpong, having earlier seen two efforts ruled out for offside.
The Austrian champions refused to surrender and scored twice late on through Florian Flecker, but Liverpool comfortably held on for a 6-3 victory and their second win of the Champions League campaign.
While Liverpool were involved in a goal-filled contest in Austria, Aston Villa produced an even more dominant performance against Fenerbahce.
Johan Manzambi opened the scoring after 12 minutes on his Champions League debut, with his effort taking a deflection before finding the net.
Nicolas Jackson then took centre stage.
The striker doubled Villa's advantage in the 31st minute after Boubacar Kamara won possession and released him towards goal.
Jackson struck again eight minutes later, combining with Ross Barkley before finding the bottom corner to send Unai Emery's side into the break 3-0 ahead.
Fenerbahce had created opportunities of their own, but goalkeeper Zion Suzuki produced important saves to prevent the visitors from finding a way back into the contest.
Villa continued their dominance after the interval.
Barkley converted a penalty in the 68th minute after Manzambi was fouled inside the area, before scoring again four minutes later with a deflected strike to make it 5-0.
Substitute Tammy Abraham completed the rout in the 90th minute, converting Alysson's delivery from close range.
The six-goal victory represented Aston Villa's biggest winning margin in European competition and extended their impressive home record on the continent.
Both English clubs now have maximum points from their opening two Champions League league-phase fixtures, although their victories arrived in very different circumstances.
Liverpool demonstrated their attacking quality in an open nine-goal encounter, while Villa produced a ruthless and controlled performance to dismantle Fenerbahce.
Barcola's first Liverpool hat-trick and Jackson's brace were among the standout individual performances on a night dominated by goals.
