Online Reporter
HOLDERS Paris Saint-Germain made a smooth start to their bid for a third consecutive Champions League football title as Ferran Torres scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 rout of Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday night, while Liverpool came from behind to beat Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona kicked off their campaign by scoring five goals against Feyenoord, while Arsenal impressed with a 1-0 win at Napoli.
PSG are hoping to become only the fourth club to win three European Cups in a row.
They wasted little time in picking apart Yaya Toure’s Slovan at the Parc des Princes.
Ousmane Dembele hammered in a rebound and then nodded in a deflected cross to put Luis Enrique’s men two goals ahead inside 22 minutes.
Torres tapped home Dembele’s cross just after the half-hour mark and drilled in his second less than two minutes after the restart.
Spain’s World Cup final hero completed his hat-trick in the 57th minute, shanking a shot with his knee that spun into the bottom corner.
Suleiman Camara crashed in a consolation for Slovan, but Fabian Ruiz had the final say for PSG when he pounced on a mishit clearance.
Liverpool made it successive victories after winning at Ipswich in the English Premier League last week by beating At-letico 2-1 at Anfield.
Atletico grabbed a 17th-minute lead as Julian Alvarez, starting for the first time this season after failing to force a move away from the club, played in Marcos Llorente to dink the ball over Alisson in the Liverpool goal.
Llorente has now scored five times in three visits to Anfield, after netting a double at Liverpool last season and in At-letico’s dramatic last-16 victory in 2020.
Liverpool hit back five minutes before the break through Dominik Szoboszlai, courtesy of a clever backheeled pass from Ronald Araujo.
Alexis Mac Allister then hammered the hosts in front five minutes into the second-half with a left-footed strike from outside the box, and Atletico could not find a response.
Arsenal missed several first-half chances at the Stadio Armando Diego Maradona, with Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret making an excellent save to keep out Mikel Merino’s header.
Piero Hincapie fired over a golden chance from just three yards out as the English champions continued to push after half-time, but last season’s runners-up finally forged ahead with 15 minutes left.
Martin Odegaard, who scored the winner against Chelsea at the weekend, played a clever one-two with Christos Tzolis on the edge of the area and crashed a shot in off the far post. — AFP Sport
