PARIS, FRANCE
\nFerran Torres was on target as champions Paris Saint-Germain finally got their Ligue 1 campaign up and running with a 1-0 win at Brest on Sunday. Prior to their trip to Brittany, Luis Enrique\u2019s double Champions League-winning side had managed just two points from their opening three matches in an uncharacteristically sluggish start to the league season.
\nThey began their quest to win a third consecutive Champions League title by thrashing Slovan Bratislava 6-1 on Wednesday and four days later they are now off the mark domestically thanks to new signing Torres.
\nThe close-season arrival from Barcelona, who scored the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup final this summer, netted a hat-trick midweek and followed it up with a sumptuous early strike at Brest\u2019s Stade Francis-Le Ble. Torres now has six goals in five outings in all competitions for PSG.
\n\u201cWhat matters to me is always helping the team, regardless of how much playing time the coach decides to give me, and doing my part. Whether that\u2019s through goals, assists, or my work on the pitch,\u201d the 26-year-old said.
\nThe result sent the Parisians up to eighth in the league table, with an identical record to their hosts, who had been unbeaten heading into the encounter. Ahead of kick-off, Brest paid tribute to their former coach Eric Roy, who died in June aged 58 after suffering from pancreatic cancer.
\nPSG got the crucial breakthrough in the fifth minute when Ballon d\u2019Or winner Ousmane Dembele flicked a backheel into the path of the onrushing Torres. The Spaniard strode onto the ball just outside the \u2018D\u2019 and caressed it into the bottom corner beyond the dive of goalkeeper Egil Selvik.
\nKhvicha Kvaratskhelia then went close to doubling PSG\u2019s lead in an entertaining first half. It was not all good news for PSG in the opening period, however, as Morocco captain and right-back Achraf Hakimi limped off just before half-time to be replaced by midfielder Fabian Ruiz.
\nBrest came within a whisker of equalising five minutes after the interval when Nuno Mendes carelessly played the ball across for Kamory Doumbia, but the forward saw his effort rebound off the post when he had only goalkeeper Matvey Safonov to beat. The hosts then turned into their own net two minutes later but the goal was disallowed for a push by Warren Zaire-Emery, which forced the error.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS, FRANCE Ferran Torres was on target as champions Paris Saint-Germain finally got their Ligue 1 campaign up and running with a 1-0 win at Brest on Sunday. Prior to their trip to Brittany, Luis Enrique\u2019s double Champions League-winning side had managed just two points from their opening three matches in an uncharacteristically sluggish start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n