PARIS (AP) — Ousmane Dembélé put aside talk of a transfer and scored two crucial goals for Paris Saint-Germain on Friday against Lille, returning to the top of Ligue 1 with a 3-0 victory.
French media reported last week that the 2025 Ballon d’Or winner had rejected an offer of a new contract.
Manager Luis Enrique called the speculation fake news and Dembele’s concentration was sharp in a match between two of the league’s top four players.
His shot from over 20 meters out in the 12th minute gave Lille’s goalkeeper no chance, and his goal 18 minutes into the second half was a reminder of why he won the Ballon d’Or.
With four defenders in front of him, Dembélé managed to find some space and take the most audacious shot of the game, fooling keeper Verke Ozer and sending it just under the crossbar.
Substitute Bradley Barcola, whose future is also the subject of speculation, jumped into a sluggish defense and scored the winning goal with his third goal in stoppage time.
The win eased tensions for the defending champions just days after city rivals Paris FC were eliminated from the French Cup.
With Friday’s victory, PSG returned to first place in the league table. They are two points behind Reims, who have a game in hand against penultimate Auxerre on Saturday.
Lille remained in 4th place, 10 points behind.
Monaco lost again
Monaco continued their poor run, suffering their seventh loss in eight games, this time losing 1-3 at home to Lorient.
Lorient’s Bamba Dieng had a goal ruled out in the first half, but scored a valuable goal midway through the second period. The Senegalese forward took advantage of a mistake by the Monaco defense.
Ansu Fati equalized eight minutes later, but goals from Jean-Victor Makengo in the 85th minute and Delmane Karim three minutes later gave the visiting Lorient three points and extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine games.
Lorient was one point behind ninth-placed Monaco.
It was another disappointing start to the weekend for Monaco, with a record of two wins, five draws and nine losses in Friday night games.
___
AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
