Paris Saint-Germain have begun their latest quest for Champions League glory with a 2-1 win over fellow Group H heavyweights Juventus at the Parc des Princes this evening.
Two first-half goals from Kylian Mbappe put the French giants in charge of the contest at the interval, but they did not capitalise fully on their dominance and allowed Juventus back into the match in the second half.
While the better chances continued to fall the way of the hosts, Weston McKennie pulled a goal back for Juve and forced Christophe Galtier's side to hang on to the one-goal victory.
The win is PSG's first in their nine meetings with Juventus across all competitions and leaves them at the top of Group H after one game, level with Benfica following the Portuguese outfit's 2-0 win over Maccabi Haifa.
Galtier's side are among the favourites to finally lift the trophy for the first time in their history this season, and they showed glimpses of both why they are so fancied and why others believe they might crumble once again.
The undoubtable attacking flair they possess was on full show for the opener as Neymar looped an audacious pass over the defence for Mbappe, who watched the ball over his shoulder before firing a first-time volley past the keeper - a stunning link-up which suggested that the latest rumours of a rift between the two players had at least not spilled out onto the field.
5 - Kylian Mbappé has scored within the opening five minutes of a UEFA Champions League match on five occasions; only Lionel Messi (6) has done so more often in the competition. Rocket. pic.twitter.com/Bo7m6seZUd
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 6, 2022
Having scored in five successive Champions League matches for the first time in his career, Mbappe soon doubled his tally for the night with another clinical first-time effort, this time firing home after a one-two with Achraf Hakimi.
At half time it looked as though PSG were far more likely to add to their tally than Juventus were to get back into the game, but the hosts took their foot off the pedal and Juventus almost punished them for it.
McKennie's header into an unguarded net after a stranded Gianluigi Donnarumma had got nowhere near Filip Kostic's cross reduced the arrears, and there were one or two other scares as Donnarumma denied Dusan Vlahovic and Manuel Locatelli caused panic in the defence to almost grab a dramatic late equaliser.
Mbappe could have killed the game off by squaring to Neymar for a simple finish in the second half, but he instead went for goal himself and skewed his effort into the side-netting, before again firing wide following brilliant link-up play with Neymar and Lionel Messi.
Galtier made substitutions to try to protect his side's lead, including the withdrawal of Messi, but his strikers were in no such mood and continually pushed for a killer third in the closing stages, Neymar and Mbappe both missing good chances to grab it late on.
In the end they did not need it, though, as PSG got their campaign off to a winning start in Group H - a 100% record they will expect to continue away to Maccabi Haifa next week.
Juventus, meanwhile, host Benfica in their second group game next week as they look to get off the mark and pick up a much-needed win following a slow start to the season.
Barney Corkhill
