Paris Saint-Germain had this game won before Villarreal had settled. João Neves fired in from six metres after Willian Pacho deflected a corner his way on nine minutes, and the goals kept coming in a rush that made Champions League history.
Maghnes Akliouche slipped Désiré Doué in to find the top corner from the edge of the box on 12 minutes. A minute later Neves saw a shot blocked by Renato Veiga and Senny Mayulu powered the rebound in on the volley. On 17 minutes Fabián Ruiz converted Akliouche's pass with a half-volley just inside the post. Four goals, 16 minutes and two seconds after kick-off — the quickest any team has ever scored four in this competition.
It could have been more by the break. Péter Gulacsi saved from Doué on 36 minutes and from captain Achraf Hakimi in stoppage time, and Villarreal went in four down in front of nearly 23,000 at La Cerámica.
Sergi Cardona shot just wide two minutes after the restart, as close as the hosts came all night. Ruiz ended any thought of a response on 50 minutes: played in by Vitinha, he beat Veiga and finished with the outside of his boot, through Gulacsi's legs. UEFA named him Player of the Match. The full match archive is in the Game Center.
There was one more moment to remember. David Boly came on for Hakimi on 76 minutes for his first appearance in the competition and scored two minutes later, curling in a Neves cross. At 17 years and 285 days he is the club's second-youngest Champions League goalscorer, behind only Warren Zaïre-Emery.
Six-nil is Paris Saint-Germain's biggest-ever away win in the competition. The defending champions have won all four league-phase games and stay top of the standings on 12 points, and they are unbeaten in 14 Champions League games — equalling the longest such run by a French side, Lyon's between December 2004 and March 2006. Villarreal drop to 29th. PSG host Roma next in this competition on November 25. More football coverage is on the Previously Sports front.
The numbers were as one-sided as the scoreline. Paris finished with an expected-goals edge of 2.69 to 0.66, and by half-time they had already put eight shots on target to Villarreal's one. And for all the noise of the night, its best moment was a quiet one: after his first goal, Ruiz raised both hands in tribute to Jesús de Miguel Alameda and the victims of Urda — the gesture in the photograph at the top of this story.
Sources · 6 sources
- PSG.fr — the club's own match report — the scorers, the record, the line-up, Boly's age, the biggest-away-win mark, and the hero photograph.
- SoccerNews — ‘Fabian scores twice as clinical champions make history’ — the record timing, the expected-goals split, the 14-game unbeaten run and the standings.
- Reuters — ‘PSG hit Villarreal for six as Bayern win and Man United fight back’.
- UEFA.com — Champions League round-up — Paris remain perfect, and Fabián Ruiz named Player of the Match.
- Flashscore — ‘PSG put six past Villarreal to pick up their 10th win in a row’ — the source of the in-body photograph.
- TNT Sports Football — the official highlights of this match, embedded above.
