PSG smash Villarreal 6-0 after scoring four goals in 17 minutes to maintain perfect Champions League run

Paris Saint-Germain's Spanish midfielder Fabian Ruiz celebrates scoring his team's fifth goal. — AFP pic

First Published: Wednesday, 04 Nov 2026 9:12 AM MYT

VILLAREAL, Nov 3 — Reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain scored four times in the first 17 minutes on their way to a 6-0 demolition of Villarreal in Spain in the Champions League yesterday as the French side shrugged off injuries to key players to maintain their perfect record in the competition this season.

Joao Neves, Desire Doue, Senny Mayulu and Fabian Ruiz all struck at the Estadio de la Ceramica as PSG set a record for the fastest team to score four times in a match in Europe’e slite club competition.

Ruiz added another early in the second half and teenager David Boly completed a comprehensive demolition of the side that finished third in La Liga last season.

“I obviously wasn’t expecting that but you get matches where you start in that way,” PSG’s Spanish coach Luis Enrique told broadcaster Canal Plus.

“We were impressive throughout and we are really pleased even if it is very difficult for Villarreal—but it is hard when you play against a team like us that presses constantly.”

PSG have probably lost star winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for the rest of the campaign after he suffered a torn ACL in his right knee in last month’s win over Barcelona, while Ousmane Dembele, captain Marquinhos and Nuno Mendes are also missing just now.

Despite that, the Ligue 1 leaders made it 10 straight wins in all competitions, including four in the Champions League as they aim to lift the European Cup for a third season running.

They are the only team to have maximum points after four matches in this year’s Champions League—Liverpool, Real Madrid and Real Betis all have maximum points from three games before playing on Wednesday—and Luis Enrique’s prolific side have now scored 20 goals on that run.

Like all matches in the Champions League on Tuesday, a minute’s silence was held prior to kick-off in tribute to Jesus de Miguel, the Tenerife player who died following a collision in a Spanish second-division game on Monday.

The poignant silence here was also held to remember the victims of last week’s deadly train crash in Spain, in which 69 people were killed.

Record home defeat

Neves opened the scoring from close range in the ninth minute, and PSG netted three more goals in under eight minutes following that.

Doue swept in as the hosts were punished for calamitous defending, and Villarreal collapsed under the intensity of PSG’s pressing as Mayulu made it 3-0.

Spain World Cup star Ruiz rounded off the stunning opening salvo, and the same player finished in style for 5-0 early in the second half after latching onto a ball over the top.

The 17-year-old full-back Boly came on for Achraf Hakimi and almost immediately got his team’s sixth goal—his first senior strike coming on his Champions League debut.

Villarreal have now lost three of their four games in Europe this season, after collecting just a single point in eight matches in last season’s league phase.

More than that, this was the worst home defeat ever for a Spanish outfit in the Champions League, but PSG march on before taking on Roma and then Aston Villa in their remaining European fixtures before the end of the calendar year.

They have won the Champions League in each of the last two seasons despite failing to finish in the top eight in the league phase.

That has forced them to go through an extra play-off round to reach the last 16, but the chances of them finishing below the top eight this time look paper-thin. — AFP