Paris St Germain’s Ousmane Dembele celebrates scoring their first aim. Picture: REUTERS
PARIS:
Ousmane Dembele scored twice as champions Paris Saint-Germain climbed high of Ligue 1 on Friday with a dominant 3-0 win over Lille at a wet Parc des Princes.
Shock packages Lens may return to the summit on Saturday ought to they win at Auxerre, however PSG coach Luis Enrique will likely be buoyed by a return to type from his high striker.
Dembele received the Ballon d’Or final season however has suffered an injury-blighted season thus far.
His objectives, together with a surprising lob, on Friday will hearten the PSG devoted, nevertheless.
A assured Dembele curled a candy left-footed shot into the underside nook from outdoors the field on 13 minutes to open the scoring.
He then chipped Lille goalkeeper Berke Ozer from contained in the field for a luxurious second simply after the hour mark.
“That is the magic of Ousmane, he can do something, he is simply good,” mentioned teammate Warren Zaire-Emery after the sport.
He additionally netted shortly after the break, popping up unmarked on the far put up just for an offside flag to disclaim him.
Bradley Barcola, a late substitute for an industrious however misfiring Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, clipped house the third in stoppage time, pouncing on a defensive mix-up that left him with solely Ozer to beat.
PSG goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier had little to take care of over the 90 minutes.
Fourth-placed Lille harried PSG into spilling a number of free balls, one among which provided a half-chance to veteran Olivier Giroud, who chipped the ball onto the bar for an agonising close to miss once they have been solely 1-0 down.
PSG began with Dembele, Want Doue and Kvaratskhelia in a line up just like the one which beat Inter Milan within the Champions League closing final Could, however have been lacking key defender Achraf Hakimi, who will play within the African Cup of Nations closing for Morocco on Sunday.
The Parisians received the league by 19 factors final season however Lens have strung collectively a nine-match successful run in all competitions to maintain tempo with the European champions this season.
