.jpg)
1 day ago
3 ARTICLE AD
One week to face Aston Villa at the Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain had another qualification to play this Tuesday. On the move to Lille on the lawn of the Pierre-Mauroy stadium, the troops of Luis Enrique absolutely had to avoid the trap set by the beautiful surprise of the competition, the USL Dunkirk, in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. The objective was clear: fill up with confidence and pocket a ticket for the grand final on May 24 at the Stade de France. And this meeting was not an easy task for PSG. Led two goals at zero at half an hour of spent play, the Parisians needed a new huge performance by Ousmane Dembélé to quickly relaunch the match. Already at 30 goals and 6 assists before the meeting, the native of Vernon was able to continue to grow his counter, exceeding, at the same time, the number of achievements of Kylian Mbappé on the 2024 calendar year in the Paris jersey in official competition. With 24 goals, he officially forgot the Real Madrid star who had made the nets tremble 23 times.
Ousmane Dembélé had largely returned to his explosion, pointing to the finger that his new leading role of the attack. A repositioning that helped him a lot: “As I said, I am positioned in number 9, I have less race to do, I am more lucid in front of the goal and I am served very well. There are goals where I just have to push it to the bottom, where Bradley (Barcola) and Désiré (gifted) practically did all the work. I place myself well and I just have to finish ”. Besides, Luis Enrique has always been demanding with the former Barça player, sure of the potential of his offensive leadership: “The best thing I did with Dembélé is not having made it play when everyone criticized me in London (against Arsenal, note). It was my best decision, everything else, Ousmane did it. The London event was a very important decision ”had detailed the native coach of Gijon. Even when the team seems to be in a bad day, Paris can always count on Ousmane Dembélé.
Its historical season continues
By scoring a double and by delivering a decisive pass, Ousmane Dembélé now carries his counter to 32 goals and 7 assists, all competitions combined. But beyond these encrypted data, it is above all its leadership that always impresses as much: “It is above all a collective work. My partners serve me well. I am always in good position to score goals, but it is above all a collective work. It is like the first period against Saint-Etienne. It was necessary to react very quickly. We're going to take a match by match, it's the last straight line. We will stay focused because that's where it is played out ”humbly explained the French striker at the microphone of France TV. At a press conference, Luis Enrique welcomed the second collective breath to facilitate Dembélé: “We made a positive change at halftime by bringing Gonçalo (Ramos), a surface player. It improved the mobility of the team and the ball traffic. This also released the association between (Ousmane) Dembélé and (Achraf) Hakimi on the right, they were able to dribble and make the difference on the wing. The football and team idea is to benefit from high -quality players. And Ousmane plays very well. This is exceptional what it does in 2025, but we are demanding and we want this for 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029 and so on. When you get into the habit, you don't want to change.». At the end of the match, the former Barcelona and Dortmund player touched 95 balloons, fired 11 times, succeeded in all his dribbles and also displayed a total of 84% of successful passes. Without forgetting that he won four of his five duels of the evening. The Parisian alarm clock therefore clearly came from the individual lightning of a breathtaking Ousmane Dembélé who seems to be tireless in 2025.
But as we often say, it is the teammates who talk about it best. In this little game, it was Nuno Mendes, present in the mixed zone, which praised Ousmane Dembélé in the corridors of Pierre-Mauroy. At the end of the match, the former Barcelona and Dortmund player touched 95 balloons, fired 11 times, succeeded in all his dribbles and also displayed a total of 84% of successful passes. Without forgetting that he won four of his five duels of the evening. The Parisian alarm clock therefore clearly came from the individual lightning of a breathtaking Ousmane Dembélé who seems to be tireless in 2025: “Yes Ousmane is an incredible player who can bring us a lot. And we are here to help him. This is our goal. And he too is there to help us. As a team, we can do very nice things». Captain Marquinhos continued: “He found the road to the goal and we are happy to see him like that. We knew he had quality, but he found a good position that allows him to be closer to the goal. He's a playmaker for us. Today, the coach has made changes by putting him on the side, but in the end, he still scores. He has found the way and when you find the way, you just have to continue like this. He has a very good mentality, he continues to work. On the match, there is nothing to say. He is someone who makes a lot of effort and he is rewarded at the end». Two goals scored, a pass delivered. But who can stop Ousmane Dembélé? For his 400th professional match in his career, the number 10 once again released the big game, faithful to himself this season.
