No Love Lost: Torres Scores Twice on PSG Debut as Barcelona Put Five Past Elche Without Him

Ferran Torres left Barcelona nine days ago. On Sunday, wearing PSG's number nine shirt for the first time, he came off the bench at half-time with his new team 2-0 down at Rennes and scored twice in 11 minutes to rescue a draw. He became the first PSG player to score a brace on debut since Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 14 years ago, right down to the 2-2 scoreline and the comeback from two goals behind. Meanwhile, Barcelona put five past Elche and never once looked like a team missing anybody. Both sides won the breakup. For now.

Ferran Torres and Barcelona Loving Life After Breakup?

Breakups in football usually leave one side worse off. But Sunday’s action, which saw Rennes vs PSG end 2-2 and Elche vs Barcelona finishing 5-0, offered the rarer version. The one where both sides walk away smiling.

Ferran Torres had been a PSG player for eight days when Luis Enrique threw him into the fire at Roazhon Park.

The French champions were 2-0 down to Rennes at half-time in their Ligue 1 opener, outrun and outfought on a pitch that was never supposed to host this match in the first place (a heatwave had damaged the Parc des Princes surface, forcing the fixture to be reversed to Brittany).

And Luis Enrique's response was radical. He pulled off Ousmane Dembele, the reigning Ballon d'Or winner, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the Georgian who had terrorised Europe in last season's Champions League run. Then sent Torres on, alongside Belgian youngster Mika Godts.

The message was clear: the biggest names in the squad had failed. The new signing, nine days into his PSG career, was being asked to fix it.

He Did, Twice

Torres's first goal arrived in the 71st minute. And it was Fabian Ruiz, another Spain teammate who had started on the bench, that lifted a pass over the Rennes backline for the assist.

Torres timed his run, beat the offside trap, and finished past Brice Samba with the composure of a player who has spent his career scoring goals that matter more than they should. His second came 11 minutes later through a glancing header from six metres, meeting another Ruiz delivery from the left.

Is That Ibrahimovic?

The comparison practically wrote itself with less than a half to go.

On 11 August 2012, Zlatan scored a brace on his PSG debut to salvage a 2-2 draw against Lorient. It was the same scoreline. Same deficit. Same opening day.

14 years apart, two forwards announced themselves at the same club in the same way.

And Torres is now the first PSG player since Ibrahimovic to score twice on debut. But if that wasn't enough, Ibrahimovic was a former Barcelona player too, whose departure from the Catalan club raised the very same questions Torres is facing now.

Can a forward who couldn't nail down a starting role at the Camp Nou prove he was always better than his minutes suggested?

After La Liga's opening weekend, we might already have the answer.

Adeyemi, Gordon Shine on Debut as Barcelona Beat Elche 5-0

On Sunday, without Torres, without Robert Lewandowski (gone to Chicago Fire), and without any recognised striker at all, Barcelona put five past Elche at the Martinez Valero:

• Raphinha and Fermin Lopez scored twice, with the Brazilian also bagging an assist.
• Meanwhile, Karim Adeyemi marked his La Liga debut with a goal before the break.
• But the icing on the cake for Culers was Anthony Gordon’s debut.

The former Newcastle man's €80 million transfer sparked a proper debate on social media over the summer, especially given Barcelona had Rashford available for a fraction of that fee after his productive loan spell.

But after two assists in four minutes on his debut, coming on in the 65th minute, even the doubters should be warming to the Englishman's arrival. 

The question that hangs over both clubs is the same question that hangs over every separation: 

How Long Does The Good Feeling Last?

For PSG, it’s a mixed bag. Torres rescued a point from a position where the starting 11 had produced nothing.

Desire Doue did have a goal ruled out for offside and Dembele fired over from close range before the break. But PSG, who finished with 69.6% possession and 19 shots, only found the net once Torres arrived.

For Barcelona, they aren’t looking back either. However, even they know that Elche isn’t the real test. That’ll be on Thursday at home to Athletic Club, and then again against Rayo Vallecano on the 31st.

If the no-striker experiment keeps producing at this rate against mid-table and upper-table sides, Barcelona may not need to re-enter the transfer market.

If it stalls, their failure to land these players will start to sting:

• Julian Alvarez (Atletico refused to sell),
• Lautaro Martinez (Inter would not negotiate), and
• Sporting's Luis Suarez (release clause reportedly around $93 million)

Torres, meanwhile, may have already defined his role as “the man who changes the match from the bench”. Whether he accepts that role for long, given he left Barcelona partly because he wanted to start every week, is a different conversation entirely.

For now, he should be savouring a past few months that have crowned him World Cup final hero and PSG’s comeback king.

Just nine days as a PSG player. And Torres has already scored two goals with one crucial point saved, sharing a stat line that puts his name next to Zlatan's.

Not a bad introduction indeed, Ferran.