Paris Saint-Germain made a flying start to their bid for a third straight Champions League crown, sweeping aside Slovan Bratislava 6-1 at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday as Ousmane Dembele and Ferran Torres stole the spotlight. Dembele, the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, struck twice before the half-hour mark before turning provider for Torres, whose finish made it 3-0 before the break.
The former Barcelona forward completed his hat-trick shortly after half-time, scoring twice more to put the result beyond doubt. Suleiman Camara pulled a goal back for the Slovakian champions, but Fabian Ruiz restored PSG’s five-goal advantage late on.
With a huge difference in financial power between the two clubs, a PSG victory was expected, and Luis Enrique’s
side faced little serious resistance but their real challenges will come later in the league phase.
“It is impossible, you cannot expect to score a hat-trick,” Torres told Canal Plus when asked if he imagined such an outcome. “The only thing that we knew before the game was that we had to play with the right intensity, press when we lost the ball, and we did that really well. We did a really good game.”
PSG are attempting to match Real Madrid’s achievement from 2016 to 2018 by becoming only the second club in modern Champions League history to lift the trophy three years in succession. Real, Ajax and Bayern Munich previously managed the feat in the European Cup era.
October brings significantly tougher assignments, with PSG travelling to Manchester City before hosting Barcelona. Torres previously played for both clubs.
“It is the Champions League, we always play against tough teams, but we have to be focused first in Ligue 1 because we didn’t start in the right way,” he added, with PSG still searching for their first domestic win this season.
Slovan, managed by former City and Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure, are aiming to improve on their previous league-phase campaign, when they lost all eight games.
Their defence held for just 17 minutes before Dembele pounced after Nuno Mendes struck the post. He soon doubled his tally with a header following a deflected Dro Fernandez effort.
Torres then converted Dembele’s cross before adding his second after Maghnes Akliouche’s run. After Mendes had a goal ruled out for offside, Torres completed his treble from a Dembele corner.
Camara’s stylish reply offered Slovan some consolation, but Ruiz eventually completed PSG’s emphatic victory.
With AFP Inputs
