5 moments that caught our eye in this week's Champions League

Champions League group stage has come to an end and finally, we have our 16 knockout stage participants. Surely, by their performances in the group phase, these are the 16 best teams that will fight out to emerge as the Europe's best.

This year's group games created a new record with a staggering 306 goals being scored across all groups - the tournament's highest ever tally. This season's number beats the record of last season which stood at 292 goals. PSG and Liverpool have had a big role to play in that (three six-goal feats between the two) along with a number of other sides.

Gameweek 6 led an exciting midweek round of games in Europe with many teams arriving at the big stage when it mattered whereas some of the contenders lost and dropped to the Europa League. In this segment, we will look at the five moments that caught our eye in this week's Champions League action:

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#5 Robert Lewandowski joins the '50 goal' club

Against PSG, Robert Lewandowski scored his 50th European goal

The Polish striker, Robert Lewandowski is widely considered as one of the best forwards in the game and his ability to influence big matches has always been his major forte. Yesterday against Paris Saint Germain, Lewandowski scored a proper striker's goal by being in the right place at the right time and converting it with utmost ease.

In doing so, Lewandowski scored his 50th European goal in just 90 games (his 51st goal of the calendar year as well) and becoming one of the fastest players to achieve this mark. The goal against PSG also added to his insane average of a goal every second game in as many as 250 appearances since playing in the Bundesliga.

#4 English clubs' European party

Liverpool scored the second highest number of goals in the group stage

It seems that Christmas has come early for the Premier League sides this time around as all the 5 teams in the competition have booked their place in the knockout phase. This is the first time England had 5 representatives in Europe's elite tournament and in turn, this becomes the first time in the history of the competition that a country has five of its clubs in the final 16.

Many have predicted that the dominating period of English clubs in the Champions League is back after a decade or so and it certainly feels like that judging by the performances of the English teams in the competition.

Liverpool were second just to PSG in the highest number of goals scored in the group stage with 23 (Liverpool's numbers are the best ever for an English side) whereas Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur managed to reach the round of 16 from a dangerous group.

#3 Cristiano Ronaldo writes his name in the history books

Real Madrid talisman achieved yet another feat in the Champions League

In the week when the winner of Ballon d'Or is set to be announced, Cristiano Ronaldo gave away another example as to why he deserves to win it for the fifth time. After 12 minutes against Borussia Dortmund, Cristiano Ronaldo slammed home a delightful curling effort into the back of the net to give Real Madrid a 2-0 lead.

With that goal, Ronaldo became the first player ever to score in every group game in the Champions League. His goal against Borussia Dortmund took his tally to nine group stage goals this season - just one less than the current top scorer Leo Messi. Each time Ronaldo has stepped on to play in the Champions League this season, he has broken one record or the other and the match against Borussia Dortmund was no different.

#2 Bayern Munich fans throw fake €500 notes towards Neymar

Neymar endured a lot of taunts from the Bayern Munich fans

After protesting through banners in their last European game against Anderlecht, Bayern Munich fans were at it again, this time focusing their angst towards world's most expensive signing - Paris Saint Germain's Neymar Jr.

In the 34th minute of the game between the two sides, Neymar was advancing to take a corner when the local fans from the closest stand threw fake €500 notes at Neymar which even had his face imprinted on it. The Brazilian did notice those notes but cleared them away with his boot instantly.

This incident may incur UEFA's wrath yet again on the Bavarians just as the match against Anderlecht did. As for the governing body, Munich fans again had a banner which read, "Throwing fake money is charged but exploiting our football is fine?"

Coming back to the Neymar incident, the hate from the Bayern Munich faithful have arisen because of the plain mockery of the FFP rules by the state-owned hierarchy of the Parisians.

But the Munich fans seem to forget that Qatar - the country's royal family which owns PSG is the venue of Bayern Munich's winter break training camp for the past four years. Also, Qatar's international airport is the platinum sponsor of the club which makes this protest a bit ironic.

#1 The best post-match press conference of all time

Paulo Fonseca donned a Zorro mask and kept his word after qualifying from their group

Shakhtar Donetsk achieved a famous 2-1 win over Manchester City last night thus cementing their place in the knockout stages. Surely, it was one of the club's highest points after beating a team like Manchester City on their current run of form. But what followed in the press conference after the game was even surprising than the result of the match.

Paul Fonseca, Shakhtar boss appeared with a Zorro mask on his face in the conference room much to the surprise of everyone present. Fonseca had made a promise that if his side would reach the round of 16 ahead of Napoli, he would don this costume in his press conference.

He stayed true to his word and what followed was the ultimate press conference in the Champions League history. Fonseca was pleased by keeping true to his word and most importantly, by his side's industrious performance and as for the neutrals, this was genuinely the best moment of gameweek six.