English Woman's Journal - Kvaratskhelia stunner helps holders PSG to winning Champions League start

Marquinhos opened the scoring inside three minutes as PSG made a fast start in front of their own fans, with Kvaratskhelia bursting through to blast home a second before the interval.

Nuno Mendes added another early in the second half and substitute Goncalo Ramos then wrapped up the victory at the death.

Bradley Barcola also had a penalty saved in the first half as Luis Enrique's team proved far too strong for their Italian opponents, who had no answer to the threat posed by the European champions.

PSG will now hope to build on this and avoid the troubles that befell them last season, when they won just one and lost three of their first five games in the league phase.

They overcame that poor start to qualify for the knockout rounds and go on to win the title, but their prospects of retaining the trophy have been called into question with early-season injuries exposing the limits of an overworked squad.

Here it was all-action midfielder Joao Neves who had to come off in the second half after going down seemingly complaining of a painful left hamstring.

The French club hardly had any off-season break after a last campaign which stretched over 65 games and 11 months, and they recently lost star forwards Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue for several weeks to injuries picked up on international duty.

Playing at centre-forward here, therefore, was the 19-year-old Senny Mayulu, who came off the bench to score the last goal in the 5-0 rout of Inter Milan in last season's final.

- Atalanta outclassed -

Atalanta came here fresh from an unbeaten start to the campaign in Serie A but having lost the chief architects of their recent success -- coach Gian Piero Gasperini departed for Roma after nine years at the helm, while last season's top scorer Mateo Retegui was sold to Saudi Arabia and African footballer of the year Ademola Lookman has been frozen out following a failed to attempt to secure a transfer.

PSG were in front in the third minute when Fabian Ruiz delivered the ball towards the far post for Marquinhos to score his first Champions League goal in four years.

An array of chances followed, with Nuno Mendes being denied by goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi when clean through, and Barcola having a shot saved after meeting Achraf Hakimi's cutback.

Hakimi saw his effort turned onto the outside of the post after being set up by a Ruiz back-heel, with Atalanta struggling to escape their own half and taking almost 20 minutes to muster a shot of their own.

Kvaratskhelia then sprung to life to make it 2-0 in the 39th minute, the Georgian controlling the ball on the right with his back to goal, turning to come inside and bursting to the edge of the box where he let fly with a shot that fizzed past Carnesecchi.

PSG were awarded a penalty just before the interval after a VAR review spotted a foul on Marquinhos, but Barcola's kick was poor and was easily saved.

It mattered not, with the third arriving anyway six minutes into the second half, Mendes running onto Barcola's pass, turning inside one defender and holding off another before beating the goalkeeper at his near post.

Then came the bad news of the evening for PSG, with Neves coming off injured before the hour mark, a sight which does not augur well with a trip to Barcelona looming in a fortnight.

PSG nevertheless went on to add a fourth in stoppage time, Ramos pouncing on a short back-pass by Raoul Bellanova to score.

B.Mclean--EWJ