PSG Score 4 Goals in 17 Minutes, Rout Villarreal 6-0 to Stay Perfect in Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain scored four goals in the first 17 minutes and routed Villarreal 6-0 on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at Estadio de la Cerámica in Spain, keeping a perfect record in the Champions League. The PSG Villarreal result left the defending champions three points clear at the top of the 36-team league phase after four of eight games.

A record start in Spain

João Neves opened the scoring from close range after a corner in the ninth minute. Désiré Doué made it 2-0 three minutes later, finishing a pass from Maghnes Akliouche, and Senny Mayulu fired a rising shot into the top corner in the 13th minute for 3-0. Fabián Ruiz added the fourth in the 17th minute, again set up by Akliouche, who finished with two assists.

PSG said its fourth goal came 16 minutes and two seconds after kickoff, the fastest any team has reached four goals in Champions League history. The Associated Press also reported that the early blitz set a competition record. The match kicked off at 3 p.m. Eastern time in front of 20,036 spectators, according to ESPN’s match data.

Ruiz scored again five minutes after halftime, meeting a Vitinha free kick and finishing with the outside of his boot, according to the club. Late substitute David Boly, making his first Champions League appearance, curled in the sixth goal in the 78th minute from a João Neves cross. PSG said Boly, at 17 years and 285 days, became the club’s second-youngest scorer in the competition behind Warren Zaïre-Emery, and that the 6-0 score was the club’s biggest away win in Champions League history.

Before kickoff, the stadium held a minute of silence for Tenerife forward Jesús de Miguel Alameda and for the victims of the recent rail crash near Urda, in Spain’s Toledo province, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported. The Champions League anthem was not played as the teams walked out. The Boston Report has covered the political fallout from the Urda train crash, which led Spain’s transport minister to resign.

By the numbers: how lopsided it was

PSG had 70.6% of possession and outshot Villarreal 22 to 14, but the gap in quality was wider than the raw shot count. PSG put 12 shots on target to Villarreal’s two, and converted six of its 22 attempts, a 27% conversion rate by The Boston Report’s calculation from ESPN match data. Goalkeeper Matvey Safonov did not have to make a save until first-half stoppage time, when he turned away a long-range effort from Ayoze Pérez.

The win extends a strong European run. PSG opened the league phase by beating Slovan Bratislava 6-1 at home, then won 4-2 at Manchester City and 4-2 at home against Barcelona. That is 20 goals scored and five conceded in four games, an average of five goals a game, for a goal difference of +15. That is nearly double the +8 of Barcelona, the next-best team in the table. Domestically, PSG took only two points from its first three Ligue 1 games, including a 2-1 home loss to Monaco, but has now won 10 straight games in all competitions, according to the PA match report published by ESPN.

For Villarreal, the loss was its third in four Champions League games. The Spanish club has allowed 14 goals, the second most in the competition behind Slovan Bratislava’s 17, and sits 29th with three points. Only the top 24 teams advance past the league phase.

Tuesday’s other Champions League results

Barcelona bounced back from its loss in Paris by beating Aston Villa 3-0 at Spotify Camp Nou. Lamine Yamal scored in the seventh minute and Raphinha added two second-half goals. The result lifted Barcelona to second place on nine points and dropped Villa, which had won its first three games, to third.

Bayern Munich won 2-0 at Atlético Madrid on second-half goals from Lennart Karl and Konrad Laimer to stay unbeaten. In Manchester, Manchester United trailed Roma 2-0 after 17 minutes, then won 3-2 at Old Trafford. Bruno Fernandes converted a penalty, and Matheus Cunha scored twice in the final eight minutes before he was sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card. Elsewhere, Inter Milan won 3-0 at Feyenoord, LASK Linz beat Slovan Bratislava 4-0, Galatasaray beat Stuttgart 2-0, Sporting CP beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 away, and Bodø/Glimt and Lille drew 0-0.

What’s next

The table could tighten on Wednesday. Liverpool, Real Madrid and Real Betis, each a perfect 3-for-3 with nine points, play their fourth games and can move level with PSG on points with wins. Liverpool visits Fenerbahçe and Real Madrid visits AEK Athens at 12:45 p.m. Eastern, and Betis plays at Borussia Dortmund at 3 p.m. Arsenal, which beat Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday to go top of the Premier League, plays at Slavia Prague, and Manchester City, which lost 1-0 to Brighton on Saturday, visits RB Leipzig.

The top eight teams after the league phase qualify directly for the round of 16, while teams ranked ninth through 24th go to a knockout playoff round. PSG returns to Ligue 1 on Saturday against promoted Troyes at the Parc des Princes, according to the club.

Sources

• AP News: Early PSG blitz breaks Champions League scoring record
• Paris Saint-Germain: Paris claim record-breaking win in Villarreal
• Paris Saint-Germain: Villarreal vs Paris match centre
• ESPN (PA): PSG put 6 past Villarreal to remain perfect in UCL
• ESPN: UEFA Champions League standings
• RTVE: Villarreal-PSG summary, result and goals (Spanish)