Before kick-off, PSG displayed the Trophée des Champions they won in Qatar last week, but the visitors wasted no time in trying to spoil the celebrations – in the first minute Zuriko Davitashvili aimed for Gianluigi Donnarumma’s near post, but the goalkeeper was equal to the strike.
The Georgian had another chance deflected wide soon after before Bradley Barcola and Gonçalo Ramos were denied at the other end by Gautier Larsonneur in a lively opening 10 minutes.
The opening goal had been coming since the off, and it arrived in the 13th-minute courtesy of Ousmane Dembélé, who cut in from the right wing, left defenders in his wake, and fired past Larsonneur at the near post for his seventh of the league season.
Seven became eight for Dembélé just 10 minutes later when he sent Larsonneur the wrong way from the penalty spot to make it 2-0 after Achraf Hakimi’s cross struck the hand of Léo Pétrot.
That’s how it stayed until the break, owing to Barcola being denied twice more – once by Larsonneur making a superb save with his feet, and then by VAR, who ruled out his goal for a foul on Benjamin Bouchouari.
Barcola’s wasteful evening continued after half-time, failing again to beat the Saint-Étienne goalkeeper from close range before he and Dembélé sent strikes over the bar ahead of the hour mark, on which Ramos smartly hooked an effort on the volley into Larsonneur’s midriff.
The Parisiens were punished for not killing the game off soon after, with Davitashvili striking a low free-kick from 25 yards which was too powerful for Donnarumma and nestled in the back of the net to reduce the deficit.
Dembélé let chances for a hat-trick go begging, although Luis Enrique’s league leaders did enough to hold out and pick up three points in their opening Ligue 1 fixture of the calendar year for just the second time in six years. Meanwhile, Saint-Étienne remain 16th and with only one away point to their name.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain)