As Paris Saint-Germain defeated Brest 5-2 on Saturday as a rehearsal for their upcoming Champions League clash, Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick for the second time in four days.
Dembele followed up his three-goal haul in Wednesday’s 4-1 win at VfB Stuttgart which saw PSG secure a place in the knockout phase play-offs of Europe’s elite club competition.
After Romain Del Castillo had just a few minutes to bring Brest level, the French winger opened the scoring in the first half and added two more goals.
Goncalo Ramos, a substitute, completed the win for PSG with a late double, but Ludovic Ajorque pulled another one back for the home side to set up a grandstand finale.
Luis Enrique’s side are still without a win in the French league this season, and they are now 13 points clear of the leader.
Marseille, who are second, can narrow that gap a little when they host Lyon on Sunday, but PSG are cruising to their 11th French league title in 13 years.
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Dembele, meanwhile, is loving playing in a central attacking role rather than his traditional position wide on the right.
He leads Ligue 1 with 14 goals for the season and has now scored 14 in his last nine games in all competitions.
“I’m in a good position playing the number nine.” I owe it to myself to score goals”, Dembele told broadcaster beIN Sports.
“To keep our good run going, it was crucial to win today,” said the coach. “We’ll see what happens in the Champions League tomorrow.”
Brest dread ,
Brest will undoubtedly dread having to face Luis Enrique’s side again in the Champions League after PSG’s record against domestic rivals this season.
The first leg of the match will take place on February 11 in Guingamp, where Brest must host Champions League games this year because Stade Francis-Le Ble does not meet UEFA standards.
They were unable to stop PSG, who finished with 14 games without a win in all competitions, in their usual home stadium for this game.
Before the half-hour mark, Dembele squared for Bradley Barcola to start the scoring.
After the break, Brest, who lost 3-0 to Real Madrid in the midweek game, emerged victorious and equalized five minutes later with a lovely low strike from Del Castillo from the edge of the box.
Before the hour mark, however, the visitors had a lead as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was denied in the box but the ball broke for Dembele to score.
He then completed his hat-trick soon after, having been picked out by a superb Lee Kang-in pass.
Ajorque’s terrific hit made it 3-2, but Ramos came on for Dembele and made it 4-2 on 89 minutes at the end of a counterattack led by Desire Doue, who had replaced Kvaratskhelia.
The Portugal striker, Ramos, scored a second time deep in injury time as he attempted to set up a teammate but was denied a ball as he struggled to get the ball to him. This was his eighth goal of the season.
Brest are eighth, four points outside the European places for next season.
Monaco play Auxerre and Lille host Saint-Etienne in Saturday’s other matches.
Source: Channels TV
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