Holders Paris Saint-Germain launched their bid for a third consecutive UEFA Champions League title in ruthless fashion on Wednesday night, thrashing Slovan Bratislava 6-1 at the Parc des Princes behind a clinical hat-trick from Ferran Torres.
The landmark opening night of the league phase also saw Barcelona hit Feyenoord for five, Liverpool fight back to defeat Atletico Madrid at Anfield, and Arsenal earn a hard-fought away victory against Napoli.
Paris Saint-Germain 6–1 Slovan Bratislava
PSG, aiming to become just the fourth club in history to win three successive European Cups, made quick work of Yaya Toure’s Slovan side in Paris.
Ousmane Dembele opened the scoring by hammering in a rebound before nodding home a deflected cross to give Luis Enrique’s team a two-goal lead inside 23 minutes. Torres then took centre stage, tapping home a Dembele cross before the break and drilling in his second shortly after the restart.
The Spanish forward completed his hat-trick in the 57th minute when his volleyed strike spun into the net. Suleiman Camara scored a fine consolation goal for Slovan, but Fabian Ruiz sealed the 6-1 victory late on.
Score Paris Saint-Germain 6–1 Slovan Bratislava
Scorers Paris Saint-Germain: Dembele 17′, 23′, Torres 31′, 47′, 57′, Ruiz 88′ | Slovan Bratislava: Camara 59′
Barcelona 5–1 Feyenoord
Barcelona began their European campaign in style, dispatching Feyenoord 5-1 to maintain their perfect start to the season.
Raphinha opened the scoring in the third minute before summer signing Karim Adeyemi doubled the lead with a long-range effort. Raphinha added his second after the break, followed by a Lamine Yamal set-piece. Sem Steijn pulled one back for the visitors, but substitute Gabriel Jesus capped off the night by heading home his first goal in Barcelona colours.
Score Barcelona 5–1 Feyenoord
Scorers Barcelona: Raphinha 3′, 57′, Adeyemi 22′, Yamal 77′, Gabriel Jesus 85′ | Feyenoord: Steijn 82′
Liverpool 2–1 Atletico Madrid
At Anfield, Liverpool recovered from an early setback to claim a 2-1 victory over Atletico Madrid.
Julian Alvarez set up Marcos Llorente to dink the ball over Alisson in the 17th minute, marking Llorente’s fifth goal in three visits to Anfield. However, Liverpool levelled before halftime through Dominik Szoboszlai following a clever backheel from Ronald Araujo.
Alexis Mac Allister completed the turnaround five minutes into the second half with a left-footed strike from distance, securing back-to-back wins for the Reds.
Score Liverpool 2–1 Atletico Madrid
Scorers Liverpool: Szoboszlai 40′, Mac Allister 50′ | Atletico Madrid: Llorente 17′
Napoli 0–1 Arsenal
Arsenal delivered a disciplined away performance at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona to edge Napoli 1-0.
After missing several first-half chances—including a Mikel Merino header saved by Alex Meret and a close-range miss from Piero Hincapie—Mikel Arteta’s side broke the deadlock with 15 minutes remaining. Martin Odegaard played a one-two with Christos Tzolis before driving his shot in off the far post to seal the victory.
Score Napoli 0–1 Arsenal
Scorers Arsenal: Odegaard 75′
Stuttgart 3–1 Viking
Ermedin Demirovic produced a stellar first-half hat-trick as Stuttgart secured a comfortable 3-1 home win over Norwegian champions Viking, who were making their first appearance in the competition in 34 years.
Score Stuttgart 3–1 Viking
Scorers Stuttgart: Demirovic 20′, 26′, 32′ | Viking: Tripic 22′
Sporting CP 3–1 Galatasaray
In Lisbon, last season’s quarter-finalists Sporting CP fought back from an early own goal to defeat Galatasaray 3-1 at the Estádio José Alvalade.
Score Sporting CP 3–1 Galatasaray
Scorers Sporting CP: Catamo 27′, Suarez 57′ (p), Zalazar 63′ | Galatasaray: Inacio 5′ (og)
