Paris Saint-Germain claimed a narrow 1-0 victory away at Brest on Sunday, though the performance did little to ease concerns over the champions' inconsistent start to the Ligue 1 campaign.
The decisive moment arrived inside four minutes at the Stade Francis Le-Blé, when a dazzling passage of play carved open the home defense. João Neves fed Ousmane Dembélé, who dispatched Raphaël Le Guen with a first-time back-heel that put Ferran Torres through on goal. The Spaniard finished with a composed strike from 25 yards past goalkeeper Egil Selvik, giving PSG the lead they would not relinquish.
It was Torres' sixth goal of the season, and remarkably every shot he has put on target in the campaign so far has ended up in the net. The former Barcelona forward, who scored the winning goal in this summer's World Cup final, continues to carry an aura of confidence that few of his teammates currently share.
Despite the early strike, PSG struggled to build on their advantage and were made to work for the win. Brest created several clear-cut opportunities, with Kamory Doumbia denied twice — first when he struck the outside of the post after being played through by an errant pass from Nuno Mendes, and later when goalkeeper Matvey Safonov produced a strong low save to deny his powerful header. Safonov was again called upon late on, tipping Pathé Mboup's curling effort around the post to preserve the clean sheet.
Despite finishing with a higher expected-goals tally than PSG, Brest were left with nothing to show for their efforts. Manager Luis Enrique acknowledged that his side had been fortunate to come away with all three points. "For me, it was the worst of our four Ligue 1 matches, even if we won," he said. "In the other three matches, we showed a high level at the back, but our opponents scored every chance. This time, it was the opposite."
The result ends a run of five games without victory for PSG against French opposition, but the champions remain some way off the pace domestically, sitting five points behind early leaders Lille, Monaco and Rennes, who are all level on 10 points after four rounds. Vitinha and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia have both struggled to find their best form since the restart, adding to questions over the team's sharpness heading into a busy schedule.
Sunday's fixture carried significant emotional weight for Brest, who paid tribute to former manager Eric Roy before kickoff. Roy, who led the club to European qualification for the first time in its history, died in June following a battle with pancreatic cancer that had gone undisclosed since his diagnosis in 2023. His daughter, Victoria-Rose, addressed the crowd before the match, and staff wore "King Eric" shirts in his memory throughout the contest.
Brest captain Hugo Magnetti said the team had drawn motivation from Roy's memory despite the defeat. "He would have been proud of us, but he would have also ticked us off for missing some big chances," Magnetti said afterward.
Elsewhere in Ligue 1, Auxerre picked up their first win of the season, beating Nice 1-0 courtesy of a goal from on-loan Southampton forward Cameron Archer, who also scored on his debut last week. The result lifts Auxerre off the foot of the table, with Nice now occupying the bottom spot without a win through four matches. In Marseille, pressure is mounting on manager Bruno Génésio after a third defeat in four games, a 1-0 loss at Rennes, prompting him to call for clearer direction from the club's hierarchy regarding their season's ambitions.
Based on reporting from The Guardian and Get French Football News.