PSG off to winning Champions League start vs Atalanta

Paris: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored a superb goal as Paris Saint Germain began the defence of their Champions League crown with a comprehensive 4 0 wi...

Paris: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored a superb goal as Paris Saint-Germain began the defence of their Champions League crown with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Atalanta at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

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.