Paris Saint-Germain began their defence of the Champions League title with a commanding 6-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava in the French capital on Wednesday.
Quick facts
- PSG defeated Slovan Bratislava 6-1 in Paris.
- Arsenal won 1-0 away to Napoli through a late Martin Odegaard goal.
- Liverpool overturned a deficit to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 at Anfield.
- Barcelona opened their campaign with a 5-1 home victory against Feyenoord.
Ousmane Dembele struck twice for PSG before new arrival Ferran Torres completed a hat-trick. The French champions, managed by Luis Enrique, were facing a Slovan side led by former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure.
PSG had built a five-goal advantage by the 57th minute, although Suleiman Camara reduced the deficit for the visitors. Fabian Ruiz added a sixth during stoppage time to complete a resounding home success.
Arsenal extended the impressive European form that saw them win all eight of their league-phase matches last season by claiming victory in Naples.
Martin Odegaard, who had also scored the winning goal against Chelsea at the weekend, again proved decisive. The Arsenal captain settled the contest in the 75th minute with a powerful strike.
Manager Mikel Arteta felt the narrow scoreline understated his team’s display.
“The result probably does not show the level of our performance,” Arteta said. “We made plenty of opportunities against a difficult opponent and showed courage. It was unfortunate that we failed to take so many major chances.”
Liverpool also secured three points after recovering from an early setback against Atletico Madrid at Anfield. The visitors went ahead in the 17th minute when Marcos Llorente finished a swift counter-attack.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister then scored to complete the turnaround and give the English side a 2-1 win.
“There were constant swings in the game, and they are a strong team. I believe we are a strong team too, and we gave everything we had,” Liverpool midfielder Szoboszlai said.
Earlier, LaLiga champions Barcelona swept aside Feyenoord 5-1 at Camp Nou. Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, Karim Adeyemi and Gabriel Jesus were among the Catalan scorers.
Six more matches are due to take place on Thursday. They include Manchester United, three-time European champions, hosting Sabah of Azerbaijan.
Sabah are making their debut in the competition after progressing through four preliminary knockout rounds to reach the group phase.
