Paris Saint-Germain began their pursuit of a third consecutive Champions League trophy with a commanding 6-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava at the Parc des Princes. The French giants are aiming to replicate the historic feat of the Real Madrid side that won three straight titles between 2016 and 2018, a milestone previously achieved only by Real, Ajax, and Bayern Munich during the European Cup era.
The match was one-sided from the start, serving as a tune-up for Luis Enrique’s squad before they face more rigorous challenges in the league phase. PSG’s upcoming schedule includes a trip to Manchester City and a home fixture against Barcelona in October. For Slovan Bratislava, the match marked a difficult return to the competition, as the Slovakian side looks to improve upon their winless performance from two years ago.
Slovan is currently managed by Yaya Toure, who holds the distinction of being the first African coach to lead a team in Europe’s elite club competition. Despite his tactical efforts, the visitors’ resistance lasted only 17 minutes. Nuno Mendes opened the scoring with a powerful strike that deflected off the post, with the ball falling to Ousmane Dembele, who slotted it home.
Dembele, the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, doubled the lead shortly after when a shot from midfielder Dro Fernandez took a deflection, setting up the forward for a header. Dembele is currently among the 30 nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or, a list that features nine of his PSG teammates. Among those nominees is Ferran Torres, who secured his spot in the conversation after scoring the decisive goal in Spain’s World Cup final victory over Argentina in July.
Torres made it 3-0 in the 31st minute by converting a cross from Dembele. Shortly after, the pair swapped roles, though Dembele’s effort to complete his own hat-trick was denied by goalkeeper Dominik Takac, who tipped the ball onto the underside of the bar. Torres continued his dominance after the break, firing in from the edge of the area just two minutes into the second half following a run by new signing Maghnes Akliouche.
After a goal from Mendes was disallowed for offside, Torres secured his hat-trick by guiding a Dembele corner into the net with his knee. While Slovan Bratislava struggled to contain the hosts, they managed a consolation goal through a strike from Gambian winger Suleiman Camara. The scoring concluded late in the match when Fabian Ruiz, another of Spain’s World Cup stars, prodded in a loose ball to finalize the 6-1 scoreline. The report also notes that and then set up Spain’s World Cup final hero Torres to make it 3-0 by the interval, last year’s Ballon d’Or winner Dembele had bagged a brace by the midway point in the first half in the French capital. The report also notes that and this was really just a warm-up for Luis Enrique’s team ahead of much tougher tests to come in the league phase, anything other than a comfortable PSG victory would have been an enormous surprise given the gulf in resources between these clubs. The report also notes that it was 2-0 not long after as a shot by young Spanish midfielder Dro Fernandez took a deflection and turned into the perfect assist for Dembele to head in. The report also notes that but nine of his current PSG teammates are also among the 30 nominees for the prize to be handed out at a ceremony in London next month, dembele is a contender to win this year’s Ballon d’Or. The report also notes that and then returned the favour by playing the ball across the face of goal to give the France forward a chance for his hat-trick, the ex-Barcelona striker converted an inviting Dembele cross to make it 3-0 on 31 minutes.
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