AFP – Ousmane Dembele scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to beat Brest 3-1 in Ligue 1 on Saturday, extending their perfect start to the French season and keeping them ahead of Marseille and Monaco at the top of the table.
Brest, preparing to make their debut in the Champions League next week, took the lead at the Parc des Princes when Romain Del Castillo converted a penalty on the half-hour mark.
However, Dembele headed in from a Marco Asensio cross to equalise for PSG shortly before half-time, and two goals in two minutes in the second half sealed their fourth win in as many outings so far this season.
Fresh from scoring twice in Spain’s 4-1 win in Switzerland last week, Fabian Ruiz curled in a fine strike to put PSG ahead on 73 minutes, and Dembele followed up to make it 3-1 a minute later after a Randal Kolo Muani effort had been thwarted.
Luis Enrique’s team have now scored 16 goals altogether in four Ligue 1 games since the close-season departure of Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid, and are in good shape heading into Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Girona.
“As a coach the objective is always to improve,” Luis Enrique said. “This season so far is the continuation of what we saw at the end of last season.”
Meanwhile, Brest are struggling to follow up on last season’s surprise third-place finish and have lost three of four games so far before meeting Sturm Graz on their European debut.
PSG are two points clear at the top from Marseille and Monaco, who both recorded impressive wins earlier on Saturday.
– De Zerbi makes impact –
Marseille continued their impressive form under new coach Roberto De Zerbi by beating Nice 2-0 in the Mediterranean derby, despite finishing the match with 10 men.
Mason Greenwood was unable to add to his remarkable tally of five goals in his first three matches in French football, but there was a goal on his home debut for new signing Neal Maupay before a brilliant strike by Luis Henrique sealed the victory.
Marseille had Canadian defender Derek Cornelius sent off late on, but held on for the win which moved them to 10 points from four matches.
“We have had an almost perfect start. I wasn’t too pleased with how we played today, but football is not just about quality. It is also about character, and blood, and in that sense we were excellent,” said De Zerbi.
The game at the Velodrome was watched by a crowd of more than 65,000 and there was a celebratory atmosphere as Marseille wore a collectors’ edition shirt to mark their 125th birthday and fans set off fireworks late on, bringing the game to a brief halt.
“In such passionate cities, you need a strong link between fans and players, otherwise you can’t do anything,” De Zerbi said when asked about the raucous atmosphere.
Those supporters will be beginning to believe their team can push PSG in the title race.
“Just as the fans have dreams, so do we, but there is also the reality. We have made so many changes in a short time and we still have huge margin for improvement,” De Zerbi added about his new-look side.
Monaco kick off their Champions League bid at home to Barcelona next Thursday and warmed up for that with 3-0 victory away at newly-promoted Auxerre.
Thilo Kehrer headed in an early opener from a corner and Brazilian full-back Vanderson made it 2-0 before Denis Zakaria sealed the win late on for the principality side.
AFP
