Rashford's brilliance at St James' Park and Haaland's inevitability - Champions League Thursday wrap-up

Here are three of the bigger talking points from Thursday's games.

Rashford sinks Newcastle

Marcus Rashford made his return to England for the first time since joining Barcelona on loan from Manchester United, with the La Liga giants visiting St James' Park to take on Newcastle United.

The 27-year-old striker has fit in well with his new side but had yet to score in Barcelona colours — until Thursday, that is.

Rashford scored twice against the Magpies, with both strikes worthy of the highlight reels as Barcelona claimed a 2-1 victory.

Any hopes of a repeat of the famous 1997 Newcastle victory over Barca were squashed when Rashford struck twice within a 10-minute span in the second half, with England manager Thomas Tuchel watching on from the stand, no less.

Haaland writes another record

It appeared for a while that 10-man Napoli would stifle Manchester City at the Etihad, with the match still scoreless 10 minutes after halftime despite the Sky Blues holding the numerical advantage for over a half-hour at that point.

Then Erling Haaland did what he does best.

The big striker connected with Phil Foden, who lobbed the ball towards goal for Haaland to chase, and the 25-year-old nodded it over Napoli goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić to break the deadlock.

Man City eventually won 2-0, but Haaland's goal was more than just the game-winner as it was also his 50th in the Champions League.

The Norwegian has scored those 50 goals in just 49 appearances, setting the new Champions League record for fastest player to a half-century of goals.

Inevitable.

Goals galore

Half of Thursday's matches were decided by three-goals or more, with Club Brugge defeating Monaco 4-1, Sporting toppling Kairat by the same scoreline and Eintracht Frankfurt dropping five on Galatasaray in a 5-1 victory.

This follow's Wednesday's 4-0 victory for PSG over Atalanta, and the wild 4-4 draw between Juventus and Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

While the latter wasn't a blowout, it was another in a breakout of high-scoring matches as the league phase continues to provide action across the board.

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