Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal made strong statements on the opening matchday of the UEFA Champions League, with the reigning champions thrashing Slovan Bratislava 6-1 and last season's runners-up Arsenal edging Napoli 1-0 in an away fixture.
PSG, chasing a historic third consecutive European title — a feat achieved by only three clubs in the competition's history — showed little mercy against Slovan Bratislava, a club from Slovakia's capital. Ousmane Dembélé opened the scoring with a hammered rebound before heading in a deflected cross to give Luis Enrique's side a 2-0 lead inside 22 minutes. Summer signing Ferran Torres then took centre stage, completing a hat-trick by the 57th minute. A consolation from Suleiman Camara briefly interrupted the rout, but Fabián Ruiz added a sixth late on to seal the result. The win came as a welcome relief for PSG, who have struggled to find form in Ligue 1, yet to record a domestic victory this season. "It is the Champions League, we always play against tough teams, but we have to be focused first in Ligue 1 because we didn't start in the right way," said Torres after the match.
Arsenal, statistically rated as the tournament's leading favourite by analytics firm Opta — given a 20.86% chance of lifting the trophy — ground out a disciplined victory at Napoli's Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Mikel Arteta's side dominated possession and created several clear chances before the breakthrough arrived in the 75th minute, when captain Martin Ødegaard received the ball following a slick passing combination and struck cleanly, with the shot deflecting off goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savić and in off the post.
Elsewhere on a busy opening night, Liverpool came from behind to beat Atlético Madrid 2-1 at Anfield, with goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister overturning a Julian Alvarez-assisted opener from Marcos Llorente. Barcelona swept aside Dutch side Feyenoord 5-1. The evening also marked the Champions League managerial debut of Andoni Iraola, who took charge of Liverpool this season. "I've loved it. The atmosphere has been incredible and I feel lucky, lucky to experience it," the Basque coach said after the final whistle.
The opening results underline a familiar picture at the top of European football, with the continent's most resourced clubs asserting early dominance. PSG's next European tests — away at Manchester City and then hosting Barcelona — will offer a far sterner measure of whether their title defence is genuinely credible, despite the modest odds currently assigned to them.