PSG spent the summer dismantling their Qatari-era excess and rebuilding around youth and hunger. On the opening weekend of Ligue 1, they nearly got embarrassed by Rennes. Nearly.
Ferran Torres had barely laced his boots for his new club before he was dragging them back from the brink — a debut double off the bench to rescue a 2-2 draw that, frankly, PSG didn't deserve for large parts of the afternoon.
Rennes Were the Better Side and They Know It
Let's be honest about what happened here. Rennes were two goals up at half-time and looking comfortable. Sebastian Szymanski opened the scoring inside nine minutes, his shot finding the net via the post. Désiré Doué thought he'd pulled one back for PSG, but the linesman's flag killed it. Then, seven minutes before the break, Przemyslaw Frankowski found space on the right and his low cross was turned in by Esteban Lepaul. Two-nil at half-time. Rennes, absolutely loving it.
PSG needed someone to step up. Torres was the man Fabián Ruiz decided to trust, and the Spanish midfielder was right to. With 19 minutes left, Torres beat the offside trap, collected a Ruiz pass and scored his first goal since arriving from Barcelona. Then, in the 83rd minute, Ruiz picked the ball up on the left, whipped in a cross, and Torres was there again. 2-2. The Spanish duo had done it together, but a winner was beyond them.
A point. That's all PSG walk away with from a game they were fortunate not to lose. [Barcelona, meanwhile, began their title defence with a 5-0 win at Elche]( /getohedz/football/bara-sign-teen-winger-bisiwu-from-club-brugge) — same continent, very different energy.
The Álvarez Situation Is Getting Worse at Atlético
Over in La Liga, there's a deeply uncomfortable subplot developing at the Metropolitano. Atlético drew 2-2 with Villarreal, which is fine — Gerard Moreno and Georges Mikautadze had put the visitors ahead before Giuliano Simeone equalised, and Robin Le Normand was sent off in the process. A tough afternoon.
But the thing everyone will be talking about is Julián Álvarez. Diego Simeone brought his forward on as a second-half substitute, and the home fans booed him. Their own player. On their own ground. When the final whistle blew, Álvarez walked down the tunnel alone while the rest of the squad went to acknowledge the supporters. That image says everything. Whatever is going on between the player and the club, it's clearly not been resolved, and playing through it isn't working.
Elsewhere Across Europe
Mohamed Salah scored his first goals for Trabzonspor in their 2-1 win over Istanbul Basaksehir — opening the scoring in the eighth minute, seeing his side pegged back by an Eldor Shomurodov penalty, then restoring the lead three minutes into the second half. He joined the Super Lig side on a two-year deal earlier this month and is already delivering.
In Serie A, Ruben Amorim started his Milan tenure with a 2-1 win at Torino, second-half substitute Adrien Rabiot setting up a goal and then scoring one himself before Ché Adams pulled one back deep in stoppage time.
The verdict: Torres's debut rescue act will dominate the headlines, and rightly so — but PSG's defensive fragility against Rennes is the real story. A point at home to that level of opposition won't be enough come spring.