He showed why he is Ballon dOr: Luis Enrique full of admiration for Dembélé, who also impressed in training with PSG the day before.

Author of a double and a sublime goal, Ousmane Dembele led PSG to victory on Friday against Toulouse (3-1) in the opening match of the 28th round of Ligue 1. Luis Enrique praised his striker in a press conference following the match.

The chant “And Ousmane Ballon d’Or!” echoed loudly in the Parc des Princes. The French World Cup champion scored a double on Friday against Toulouse (3-1), securing PSG’s victory in the first match of the 28th round of Ligue 1. “Yesterday during training, he was incredible in the shooting exercise, and today he showed why he is the Ballon d’Or,” praised his coach, Luis Enrique, in the press conference.

Ousmane Dembele notably scored with a superb volley in the 23rd minute. “He played 90 minutes, which is important for his physical level, it’s beautiful to see a player as different as him evolve,” added the Spanish coach about his player. The goalscorer himself played the modesty card in the mixed zone: “I think I shoot ten times, only one goes in, it worked for me tonight. I saw the ball coming slowly towards me, I thought I should try it and it worked.”

Luis Enrique does not want to blame Safonov

Regarding the Russian goalkeeper Matvei Safonov, who made two mistakes leading to Toulouse’s goal, Luis Enrique put things into perspective: “You have to help the players because it’s normal. A goalkeeper is like a defender, midfielder, striker, there are actions that you can miss, but I’m happy with what I saw from all positions tonight.” Lucas Chevalier, number 2 in the hierarchy, was called up by Didier Deschamps for the national team? “I was happy to see him in the selection because having confidence in a goalkeeper is important,” replied the Spaniard.

Overall, with five days until the first leg quarter-final against Liverpool, “we showed what kind of team we were, (…) we created a lot of chances, even if they defended very well.” “It’s important for the championship, to continue to put pressure on Lens,” added Luis Enrique.

Toulouse coach Carles Martinez Novell regretted but also acknowledged: three conceded goals “is a little more than we deserved but we didn’t have many goal-scoring opportunities.” Against Paris “it’s normal to accept defending, we were good in the first half in that area, but we lacked rhythm to keep the ball,” added the TFC coach.

– A.Bo with AP, JS, VJ, and AFP