Leverkusen 2-7 PSG: Doue brace leads PSG thrash, Dembele returns with goal

Holders Paris St-Germain produced a ruthless attacking display to dismantle Bayer Leverkusen 7-2 and make it three wins from three in the Champions League.

Two strikes from Desire Doue, along with goals for Willian Pacho and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, put PSG 4-1 up at the break, before Nuno Mendes, Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha completed the rout.

Defender Willian Pacho headed PSG ahead in the seventh minute when he met Nuno Mendes' teasing in-swinging cross, before Leverkusen were awarded a penalty 16 minutes later when Illia Zabarnyi brought down Claudio Echeverri.

Alejandro Grimaldo's effort struck the post, however, and seven minutes later Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich had a yellow card upgraded to red by the VAR for elbowing Doue in the face.

PSG's numerical advantage lasted all of five minutes though, as Zabarnyi was shown a straight red card for dragging down Christian Kofane in the box.

The BayArena crowd roared as Aleix Garcia converted, but their joy was short-lived.

In the space of barely five minutes, Doue found the bottom corner with a sharp finish, Kvaratskhelia's first-time strike went in off both posts, and Doue finished a swift counter-attack with a low curling effort.

The second half began in a similar vein - Vitinha glided through the Leverkusen midfield and slipped Mendes through on goal to fire past Mark Flekken at his near post.

Garcia found the top right corner with an audacious 30-yard strike to pull a goal back for the hosts, before Dembele marked his return from a hamstring injury by tapping in PSG's sixth at the back post just three minutes after coming off the bench.

Vitinha complemented his assist for Mendes with a low effort into the bottom corner in the 90th minute.

Injury-hit PSG have won just one of their past four Ligue 1 games and have surrendered top spot to Marseille, but those struggles have clearly not followed them into Europe.

Line-ups

Leverkusen XI: Grimaldo, Mark Flekken, Andrich, A.García, Tapsoba, Loïc Badé, Equi Fernández, Ernest Poku, Arthur, Echeverri, Christian Kofane

Subs: Janis Blaswich, Lomb, Belocian, Eliesse Ben Seghir, Ken Izekor, Ibrahim Maza, Montrell Culbreath, Jeremiah Mensah

PSG XI: Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha, Ilya Zabarnyi, Pacho, Lucas Chevalier, Nuno Mendes, Barcola, Zaire-Emery, Doue, Mayulu

Subs: Marquinhos, Lucas, Dembele, Safonov, Kang-in Lee, Gonçalo Ramos, Beraldo, Renato Marin, Mbaye, Quentin Ndjantou