Champions LeaguePublished one week ago 2 min read Español

PSG Thrash Slovan Bratislava 6-1 in Champions League as Ferran Torres Hits Top Form

Luis Enrique's side needed just 17 minutes to break the game open and put on a show of attacking firepower, with Dembele unstoppable on matchday one of the league phase.

Seventeen minutes. That's all it took for PSG to pick the lock on Slovan Bratislava, and from there there was no stopping them. What followed was an offensive showcase that ended 6-1 and left two standout names: Ferran Torres, with a hat trick that tastes like personal glory, and Ousmane Dembele, unstoppable, with two goals and two more assists.

The result, in the opening round of the Champions League's league phase, served above all one purpose: recharging the morale of a PSG side that had come in with a rather lukewarm start to the Ligue 1 season (two draws and a loss). Against a lesser opponent, Luis Enrique's team cut loose and remembered why they're defending back-to-back European titles, from 2025 and 2026. A third straight Champions League crown would put them in a very exclusive club: only Real Madrid, Ajax and Bayern Munich have pulled that off before.

A Festival in Half an Hour

Luis Enrique's game plan worked like clockwork: Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi pushing forward as wingers, Vitinha dictating play from the center, and up top the lethal combination of Dembele and Ferran Torres. The first warning came when Mendes struck the crossbar; on the rebound, Dembele pounced to make it 1-0 in the 17th minute. Six minutes later, in the 23rd, Dembele himself headed home the second after a pass from Dro Fernandez deflected off the Slovak defense. The 2025 Ballon d'Or winner, already nominated for the 2026 edition as well, was on fire. Then it was Ferran Torres's turn. In the 31st minute, the Spanish forward struck a first-time finish off a Dembele cross to score his first-ever Champions League goal in a Paris jersey, a milestone that hasn't gone unnoticed given he was a hero of Spain's last World Cup run.

There was no mercy in the second half. In the 47th minute, after a brilliant individual run by Akliouche that left several defenders trailing, Ferran Torres slotted home a cross-shot finish to make it 4-0. Ten minutes later, in the 57th, he completed his hat trick with a first-time finish off a corner taken by Dembele: 5-0 and a perfect night for the former Barcelona man.

Slovan, with Yaya Toure on the bench and Panamanians Cesar Blackman and Cristian Jesus Martinez starting down the right flank, could barely put a dent in the scoreline. It was Gambian forward Suleiman Camara who grabbed the consolation goal after a solo run that left Ukrainian defender Zabarnyi for dead. In the 88th minute, Fabian Ruiz rounded off the scoring with Paris's sixth goal.

With the rout settled inside the first half hour, PSG have sent a clear message to their upcoming continental opponents, far tougher tests than Slovan: in October they travel to face Manchester City, then host Barcelona at the Parc des Princes. That's when we'll find out whether this PSG side can keep the hunger it showed against Slovan.

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