Highly Efficient: Ferran Scores Hat-trick Against Bratislava Despite Only 34 Touches, Fewest in the Team

On September 10 Beijing time, in the first round of the UEFA Champions League league phase, Paris Saint-Germain beat Bratislava 6-1. Ferran Torres scored a hat-trick on his Champions League debut, his first Champions League hat-trick since joining Paris, and it also made him the second player in PSG history to score at least five goals in his first five competitive appearances, behind only Ibrahimovic. L'Equipe believes his running, defensive commitment and match intensity are gradually fitting into PSG's system. After the match, Fabian Ruiz also praised his performance and effort.

Here is L'Equipe's analysis.

After the match, Ferran Torres, wearing slippers and holding the match ball, went to the Paris Saint-Germain fans and greeted the crowd among the Paris musicians. The ball belonged to him: it represented his first hat-trick since joining the two-time European champions and also the first hat-trick of his career in the Champions League. At that moment, he may not have known that the performance had also placed him high in a club record: he became the second PSG player to score at least five goals in his first five competitive matches, following the famous Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

He certainly knew his performance that night was extraordinary. Therefore, he put on the club's training jacket, carefully tucked the match ball under his arm, and accepted an interview with Canal+ on the sideline.

He said: "We can never predict that we will score a hat-trick; it is still something very special! I feel very good now. Playing with players like these is easy, and I will try to enjoy all of this as much as possible. Whether on the pitch or off it, I always try to keep myself happy."

The match initially almost completely belonged to Ousmane Dembele, and it took him a long time before he gradually became the other main character of the game—Ferran Torres. He was deployed on the left side of the attack, but PSG's play was actually focused more on the right. The movements of the number 10 player and Achraf's aggressive forward runs made the man who scored the only goal in the 2026 World Cup final appear more peripheral. At the beginning of the match, he looked more like a super substitute than a starter.

During the first 30 minutes, Ferran Torres' performance was fairly ordinary, and his positioning did not turn into any real attacking chances. It was not until the 31st minute that he suddenly made a run toward the near post, met a cross from the current Ballon d'Or winner, and scored from close range to make it 3-0. The goal completely opened up his performance.

Previously, Ferran Torres came off the bench in PSG's Ligue 1 opener away against Rennes and scored twice in the second half to help the team draw 2-2. Since his excellent display at Roazhon Park, his performances have clearly not matched that level, whether playing centrally or on the wing—more often on the right—and he had not scored again.

Against Bratislava, although the Spanish player was theoretically deployed as a left winger, he completed his first Champions League hat-trick since joining PSG: his first goal came from a direct right-footed shot, his second came in the 47th minute with a curling right-footed effort to make it 4-0, and in the 57th minute he used his right knee to finish from close range and make it 5-0. All three goals came from the right side of his body.

For a player who touched the ball only 34 times throughout the match, the fewest among all PSG players, such a performance was impressive. Ferran Torres was not always at the center of the team's passing routes, but his connection with teammates is gradually improving, and his demands for running and match intensity seem to suit this PSG side.

"I know him very well. His work on defense helps us a lot, and today we saw a very strong performance from him," his Spanish teammate Fabian Ruiz said after the match. "I am happy for him because he deserves this performance. He works very hard, and we hope he can bring us a lot of joy."

On Wednesday night, on the pitch at Parc des Princes, Ferran Torres completed the sixth hat-trick of his career. Less than two months after the goal that helped Spain win the World Cup, it now appears that happiness is not ready to leave him.