Atletico

PARIS, France: Holders Paris Saint-Germain made a smooth start to their bid for a third consecutive Champions League title as Ferran Torres scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 rout of Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday, while Liverpool came from behind to beat Atletico Madrid.

Barcelona kicked off their campaign by scoring five goals against Feyenoord, while Arsenal impressed with a 1-0 win at Napoli.

PSG, who are hoping to become only the fourth club to win three European Cups in a row, visit Manchester City and host Barca in their next two European games.

“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, with PSG yet to win a domestic game this season.

But they wasted little time in picking apart Yaya Toure’s Slovan at the Parc des Princes.

Ousmane Dembele hammered in a rebound and then nodded in a deflected cross to put Luis Enrique’s men two goals ahead inside 22 minutes.

Torres tapped home Dembele’s cross just after the half-hour mark and drilled in his second less than two minutes after the restart.

Spain’s World Cup final hero completed his hat-trick in the 57th minute, shanking a shot with his knee that spun into the bottom corner.

Suleiman Camara crashed in a consolation for Slovan, but Fabian Ruiz had the final say for PSG when he pounced on a mishit clearance.

Liverpool made it successive victories after winning at Ipswich in the Premier League last week by beating Atletico 2-1 at Anfield.

Atletico grabbed a 17th-minute lead as Julian Alvarez, starting for the first time this season after failing to force a move away from the club, played in Marcos Llorente to dink the ball over Alisson in the Liverpool goal.

Llorente has now scored five times in three visits to Anfield, after netting a double at Liverpool last season and in Atletico’s dramatic last-16 victory in 2020.

Liverpool hit back five minutes before the break through Dominik Szoboszlai, courtesy of a clever backheeled pass from Ronald Araujo.

Alexis Mac Allister then hammered the hosts in front five minutes into the second half with a left-footed strike from outside the box, and Atletico could not find a response.

“I’ve loved it. The atmosphere has been incredible and I feel lucky, lucky to experience it,” said Liverpool’s new manager Andoni Iraola after his Champions League coaching debut.

Odegaard sinks Napoli

Arsenal missed several first-half chances at the Stadio Armando Diego Maradona, with Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret making an excellent save to keep out Mikel Merino’s header.

Piero Hincapie fired over a golden chance from just three yards out as the English champions continued to push after half-time, but last season’s runners-up finally forged ahead with 15 minutes left.

Martin Odegaard, who scored the winner against Chelsea at the weekend, played a clever one-two with Christos Tzolis on the edge of the area and crashed a shot in off the far post.

Barcelona made an excellent start to their latest bid to end a 12-year wait to lift the trophy, as Raphinha continued his superb form by scoring twice in a 5-1 thumping of Feyenoord.

Hansi Flick’s men, who lost to Atletico in the quarter-finals last season, have won all five of their matches in all competitions so far this season, scoring five goals in four of them.

“We controlled the game, we are dominant and this is fantastic to see. This is our style and how we want to play,” said Flick.

Raphinha put Barca into a third-minute lead before a brilliant long-range strike from summer signing Karim Adeyemi.

Brazilian Raphinha, playing up front this season after the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Torres, made it eight goals already for the campaign in the second half.

Lamine Yamal netted a free-kick which crept through the wall, and although Sem Steijn pulled one back for Feyenoord, Gabriel Jesus came off the bench and then headed in his first Barca goal.

Ermedin Demirovic scored a first-half hat-trick as Stuttgart eased to a 3-1 home win over Norwegian champions Viking, playing in the competition for the first time in 34 years.

Sporting, quarter-finalists last season for the first time since 1983, fought back to see off Galatasaray 3-1 in Lisbon.

BILBAO, Spain: Athletic Bilbao thumped Atletico Madrid 3-0 in La Liga on a miserable Saturday afternoon for Diego Simeone’s side.

Nico Williams, Robert Navarro and Oihan Sancet’s goals gave the Basque hosts a resounding victory at their San Mames stadium.

Elsewhere promoted side Deportivo La Coruna earned an exciting 3-2 win at Villarreal to climb provisionally fourth.

Athletic secured back-to-back wins under former Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic, after losing their first two matches of the campaign.

Simeone’s Atletico fell to their first defeat of the season, putting up little fight in the second half after Athletic made the breakthrough with two quick strikes from Williams and Navarro.

“Their two goals, in the blink of an eye, did us a lot of damage,” Atletico’s Pablo Barrios told Movistar.

Atletico must pick themselves up for Wednesday’s visit to face Liverpool in the Champions League at Anfield.

“(We had) two minutes of inattention and poor decision-making in situations we should have handled better,” said Simeone. “Bilbao capitalised on that lapse.”

Striker Julian Alvarez, who tried to leave the club to join Barcelona this summer, returned as a substitute after illness in an ineffective second half appearance.

The visitors had the better of the opening period, although they failed to create many clear-cut chances after an early opportunity for Lee Kang-In.

The South Korean international struck a shot against the post in the third minute after the hosts were carved open.

Athletic goalkeeper Unai Simon saved from Alex Baena as Atletico threatened, while Sancet came close at the other end with a blast into the side-netting.

Pablo Barrios hit the post before the break for Atletico, who were sucker-punched early in the second half by Terzic’s side.

The Williams brothers combined for Athletic’s first, with Inaki’s deflected shot headed home by younger sibling Nico after 46 minutes.

Navarro doubled Athletic’s lead in the 48th minute, steering home after Inaki Williams played him in.

“We were good in the first half but the game got away from us in those (couple of) minutes,” said Simeone.

“We lacked in the second half everything that we had in the first.”

No impact for Alvarez

Simeone rang the changes, including sending on want-away striker Alvarez to little effect.

The Argentina international struggled to get involved in the game, and produced just one shot from the edge of the box, saved comfortably by Simon.

Sancet wrapped up Athletic’s victory in the 90th minute when he stroked home a loose ball after a blocked cross.

“It’s always good to win games, especially at home,” said Terzic.

“Today we are happy and we are going to be very satisfied when we go to bed tonight, and then from tomorrow onwards we’ll prepare everything to go for the next (game).

“We have six points from the last two games, but this won’t help us to reach all our targets by the end of the season.”

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored for the fourth match running and set up two more as the former Arsenal and Barcelona striker excelled in Depor’s surprise win at Villarreal.

Another ex-Arsenal attacker Nicolas Pepe put the hosts ahead but Luismi Cruz levelled for the Galicians before the interval.

Adama Traore’s own goal gave Villarreal the advantage once more but Zakaria Eddahchouri and Aubameyang, 37, struck to claim Depor a superb victory.

Sergio Camello netted twice for Rayo Vallecano in an entertaining 3-2 win over Racing Santander.

On Sunday, La Liga leaders Barcelona visit Valencia looking to move clear of Real Madrid, who lost 1-0 at Real Betis on Friday, among other fixtures.

Atletico Madrid have agreed a £34.2m (40m euros) fee to sign Cristian Romero from Tottenham.

The 28-year-old is set to become Atletico’s fourth signing of the summer, while Spurs will also retain a 15 per cent sell-on clause as part of the deal.

Argentina international Romero was the subject of interest from Premier League champions Arsenal in recent days, but Tottenham did not want to sell their captain to their north London rivals.

He leaves Tottenham after five seasons, having made 156 appearances for them, scoring 13 times, following an initial campaign on loan from Atalanta in 2021.

The centre-back played for Argentina during their run to the World Cup final this summer, missing just one game.

Romero was scheduled to return to pre-season with Spurs in the coming week after being given extra time off following the tournament in North America.

He captained the side last season as Tottenham narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League.

Having signed permanently from Atalanta in a £42.5m deal, Romero became a key figure in their defence.

The news will be a blow to Spurs fans who are also set to lose Djed Spence to Inter Milan, who are in advanced talks to sign the England full-back in a £25.6m (30m euros) deal.

With the additions of midfielders Kang-in Lee and Morten Hjulmand and left-back Alejandro Grimaldo, Atletico are set to take their transfer spending over £100m this summer should they complete the Romero deal.

Head coach Diego Simeone is aiming to strengthen his squad after they finished fourth in La Liga last season, with Villarreal beating them to third place.