Paris Saint-Germain beat Villarreal 6-0 away from home on Tuesday, November 3, scoring four goals in the first 17 minutes to set a Champions League record and stay perfect at the top of the league phase table. Fabian Ruiz scored twice at the Estadio de la Ceramica, and Paris finished Matchday 4 with four wins from four matches.
The margin was emphatic, but the start was the story. By the time Fabian Ruiz converted the fourth goal, only 16 minutes and two seconds had passed since kickoff, the quickest four-goal haul by one team in the history of the competition, according to the club. Villarreal, in front of nearly 23,000 spectators, never recovered from a spell that turned a difficult European night into a lost one inside the first quarter of an hour.
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Four Goals Before Villarreal Could Settle
Joao Neves opened the scoring in the ninth minute. A corner delivered from the left was deflected by Willian Pacho, and Neves fired home from six metres out. Three minutes later, Paris pressed Villarreal into a mistake high up the pitch, Maghnes Akliouche slipped the ball to Desire Doue, and Doue found the top corner from the edge of the box for 2-0.
The third arrived one minute after that. Neves saw a shot blocked by Renato Veiga, and Senny Mayulu pounced on the rebound, powering a volley into the net. In the 17th minute, Akliouche recorded his second assist of the night, setting up Ruiz, who converted with a fine half-volley just inside the post. Four goals, four different scorers, and a new competition record, all before Villarreal had played 20 minutes of football.
It could have been worse by halftime. Villarreal goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi saved attempts from Doue in the 36th minute and from captain Achraf Hakimi in stoppage time, keeping the score at 4-0 at the break. Paris goalkeeper Matvey Safonov, by contrast, made his first save only in first-half stoppage time, turning away a 25-yard effort from Ayoze Perez.
Ruiz Finishes The Job After Halftime
Villarreal tried to answer after the restart. Sergi Cardona fired a fierce shot just wide in the 48th minute, a brief signal of intent from the hosts. It lasted barely two minutes. Played in by Vitinha, Ruiz beat Veiga and slotted the ball between Gulacsi’s legs with an outside-of-the-boot finish in the 50th minute for his second goal of the night and a 5-0 lead.
There was still time for a debut moment. David Boly came on in the 76th minute for his first appearance in the competition and scored two minutes later, curling a shot past Gulacsi from a Neves cross. At 17 years and 285 days, Boly became the club’s second-youngest Champions League goalscorer, behind Warren Zaire-Emery. Paris called the result its biggest-ever away win in the competition. Ruiz was named player of the match, and the club noted that after his first goal he paid tribute to Jesus de Miguel Alameda and the victims of Urda.
A Canadian On The Other Side
Canadian winger Tajon Buchanan started for Villarreal, according to Canadian Soccer Daily, and endured the hardest kind of night for a wide player, chasing a game that was gone before his team could establish any rhythm. Villarreal had arrived with some European credibility of their own. Between narrow defeats at Borussia Dortmund by 3-2 and at Liverpool by 4-3, they had beaten Napoli 3-1, and they were facing a Paris side that had beaten Barcelona 4-2 at the Parc des Princes two weeks earlier.
That context matters. This was not a strong team dismissing a weak one. It was the holders of a perfect record producing the fastest four-goal start the Champions League has seen, against an opponent that had competed well with three other major clubs this autumn. For Buchanan and Villarreal, the remaining league phase matches now carry real pressure, because a 6-0 defeat damages goal difference as well as confidence.
What The Rout Means
Paris retained top spot in the league phase standings with a fourth win in as many matches, moving three points clear at the top, according to TSN. The win also continued a run of victories across all competitions that has made Luis Enrique’s side the team every other contender is measuring itself against this season. When a team can score four times in 16 minutes and two seconds away from home, the threat is not one player. Neves, Doue, Mayulu and Ruiz all scored in the opening burst, Akliouche created two of the goals, and a 17-year-old substitute closed the scoring.
Next up for Paris is a home league match against promoted Troyes at the Parc des Princes on Saturday. For Villarreal, the task is simpler and harder at the same time: put the worst 17 minutes of their season behind them, because the Champions League will not wait for them to process it.
