Dembele stars as Paris Saint-Germain come back to bury Brest in Ligue 1
The Parisians got off to a frantic start, swarming the box of Marco Bizot, who was kept inside the opening quarter hour. The Dutch goalkeeper was first called into action to deny Nuno Mendes and then his Portugues teammate Joao Neves with a tremendous save.
The hosts should have scored minutes later after Mendes picked out Marco Asensio, but the Spaniard skied his effort when bearing down on goal.
Despite the good work the Portugues full-back was showing going forward, a moment of madness at the back gave Brest an opportunity to take the lead from the penalty spot on the half-hour mark, after he pulled Ludovic Ajorque down in the box.
Romain Del Castillo stepped up and sent Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way.
Undeterred after falling behind, Luis Enrique’s men continued to dominate and pressed forward to draw level.
Achraf Hakimi broke down the right before flashing the ball across the box to Asensio, but the Spaniard failed to get a full connection on the ball which allowed Bizot to save.
However, the home side continued to probe and duly got their reward a few minutes before half-time after Asensio made up for his prior misses by whipping a pinpoint cross onto the head of Ousmane Dembele, who nodded in at the back post.
PSG picked up right where they left off after the restart, dominating possession and posing several threats to the Brest goal.
Dembele in particular was looking the most threatening down the right for the Parisiens, and the former Barcelona winger had Bizot on the stretch after cutting in and curling an exquisite effort with his left foot but the Dutchman managed to make the save.
Asensio did have the ball in the back of the net on the hour mark but the goal was rightly ruled out for offside.
It was another Spaniard who did get the elusive second goal for PSG as Fabian Ruiz expertly curled the ball home from the edge of the box after being picked out by Hakimi.
Finally in the lead, the hosts added a third goal a minute later, as Dembele was on hand to fire in the rebound after Randal Kolo Muani’s shot was blocked.
After an initial scare in the first half, Enrique’s side ran out comfortable winners, and their attention now turns to the UEFA Champions League with Girona visiting Paris on Wednesday. B
rest will also be in action, making their debut in Europe’s top club competition when hosting Austrian side Sturm Graz.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint-Germain)