Champions League: Ferran Torres Hits Hat-Trick in PSG Rout; Arsenal and Liverpool Win
Paris St-Germain, holders of the Champions League title, began their attempt to win the European championship for a third time in a harsh manner on Wednesday, defeating Slovan Bratislava 6-1, with Ferran Torres scoring a ruthless hat-trick in the second half after joining the club as a new signing. The French top players ignored concerns about their poor home performance and instead showed their strength in an impressive attacking display at the Parc des Princes. Ousmane Dembélé scored two goals before the break to begin the dominant performance. Torres then defeated the Slovakian champions by scoring three times in quick succession, making it 5-0 by the 57th minute. Suleiman Camara managed a rare positive contribution for Yaya Touré's team visiting from abroad, but Fabian Ruiz finished the game with a goal in the 88th minute. In Italy during the previous season, the defeated finalists, Arsenal, faced a much tougher test and won 1-0 against Napoli. The London club had won all eight of their league matches in the last campaign and carried that form into this one when captain Martin Odegaard played a smooth sequence of passes before scoring a powerful goal in the 75th minute.  Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, admitted that his team had let several opportunities slip away before finally scoring. "The result probably doesn't match the way we played," he said. "We had numerous chances against a difficult opponent and showed courage, but it was a real shame that we missed so many important ones." At Anfield, Liverpool recovered to win 2-1 against Atletico Madrid. Marcos Llorente shocked the home fans by scoring on a counter-attack in the 17th minute, but Dominik Szoboszlai equalised for Liverpool five minutes before half-time. Alexis Mac Allister then completed the comeback five minutes after the restart with a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area. After the game, Szoboszlai said, "It's been a fluctuating journey, don't you think? I also believe we have a good team. We gave everything we had." In Lisbon, Sporting overcame a difficult start and won 3-1 against Galatasaray. An own goal by Goncalo Inacio in the fifth minute gave the Turkish champions an early lead, but Geny Catamo equalised midway through the first half. Luis Suarez then calmly scored the penalty in the 57th minute, and Rodrigo Zalazar secured the three points six minutes later with a curled free kick.  In Spain, the goals came just as easily as Barcelona defeated Feyenoord 5-1 in heavy rain; Raphinha, who was captain, scored twice and was assisted by Karim Adeyemi, Lamine Yamal and Gabriel Jesus, while Sem Steijn scored one goal for the opposing team. Hansi Flick, Barcelona's manager, said that although it's still a long way from May, the situation looks very promising because the team is training hard and everyone is hungry.  In Germany, Ermedin Demirovic produced the quickest string of goals of the night, scoring a hat-trick in the first half within 12 minutes to help VfB Stuttgart beat the debutants Viking Stavanger 3-1. Zlatko Tripic had temporarily equalised for the Norwegian side before Demirovic secured the victory with two sharp goals, ending the sequence with an acrobatic hooked volley. On Thursday, there are six matches, including Manchester United, the three-time winners, playing at home against Azerbaijani newcomers Sabah.
