When English football fans think back to the famous Liverpool comeback from 3-0 to beat Barcelona in 2019, many will remind themselves of Trent Alexander-Arnold's quickly broke corner routine to the defenders or the general scenes of what the Catalans would call a Remontada.
But fans of Barca and France do not remember the second stage, but a moment with seconds that were left in Camp Nou a week earlier.
Ousmane Dembele, the fleet-footed winger between Paris and Rouen, received a square ball from Lionel Messi and had an easy finish to bring the score to 4-0.
Shoot on either side of Alisson and Barcelona in the final of the Champions League. On 3-0 up they had one foot firmly in the Madrid final. But 4-0 would be too much, even for this great Liverpool side to turn around on a fever European evening under the Anfield lights.
Instead, Dembele rumbled the effort and rolled the ball into the grateful understanding of Alisson. The rest, as they say, is history … and Liverpool by Jurgen Klopp went on to the final in the Wanda Metropolitano to win their sixth European crown.
This was the most crucial moment in Liverpool that won that trophy. The bank had invited Alisson to go to a late red corner, but the Brazil no. 1 weaked with his finger and rejected. Although the actual Save is a regulation stop, his role should never be underestimated.
For Dembele, however, this was his career in a microcosm. “If he is used correctly, he could be the best player in the world,” said former Barca boss Xavi, while his ex-Rennes manager Julien Stephan once stood on it: “If he was a better finisher, he could have won a balloon d'or.”
Six years after that moment, Dembele can finally say that he is indeed a better finisher. And boy, he can end up. In 2025 alone, he has 18 goals – more than anyone in Europe's top five competitions. Even scoring machine Mohamed Salah has only – 'only said' in jest – affected 10.
With regard to this season completely, only five men have surpassed Dembele, a winger, in the Big Leagues: Robert Lewandowski, Salah, Harry Kane, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. It would be wrong to call him a late bloomer, but in the end, at the age of 27, the Frenchman fulfills his potential.
The parisens love him. While Mail Sport went a trot along the banks of the Seine to the Eiffel Tower and on Tuesday, in the glorious spring -sun, many PSG shirts were spotted: many still wear the names of Messi and Neymar … but more with Dembele.
Outside the Parc des Princes, the club shop did a roaring trade. Mbappe has forgotten, now Dembele is the poster boy of this new team. If he goes further, Dembele is perhaps on stage in the beautiful theater du chatele for this year's balloon d'Or ceremony.
It has not always been that way.
“He has been literally unplayable and unstoppable,” says French football expert Julien Laurens Mail Sport. “It has been a very interesting trip for him. If you think of the young Dembele in Rennes and then in Dortmund, he was such a prodigy.
“It was extraordinary, we hadn't seen anything like that in France for years. So many skills, dribbling, two feet, not busy. At Rennes he was like a UFO … something of another planet! '
After excel in France and then Germany, Barcelona paid £ 135.5 million to sign him in 2017 and President Joan Laporta said that he will “be better than Mbappe.” There were some high times there, but his career in La Liga is largely reminded of poor finish and injuries.
Indeed, transfarkt data records 14 separate muscle bladder in the Camp Nou, and spent 784 days offside and with only 37 percent of the league games. He also struggled with the lifestyle – he wanted to live like any other man in their young 20s, but couldn't.
One source points to a turning point like his wedding from 2021 in Morocco that surprised teammates because they didn't even know he had a girlfriend. He soon became a father and started working with a specialist in injuries prevention, who also employed a French nutritionist.
His last contract with Barca came in time of financial turbulence, so he added a release clause of € 50 million ($ 41 million) – of which PSG was well aware. “It seemed that they were exercising under Xavi in Barca, but he wanted to be in Paris and play with his super good friend Mbappe,” Laurens adds.
'PSG thought they had an absolute bargain – he was French, a good age, a no brainer. They thought they could take him to the next level. (Manager) Luis Enrique knew he could transform him.
'Living in Paris has been good for him, life is easier for him and he knew that this team would be his when Mbappe left for Real Madrid. He knew he could become the boss of the team. He knew he was ready, Ousmane knew it was now his time. '
Luis Enrique, a winner of the Champions League such as Barca -Baas, worked for hours with Dembele to change his position to be a false no. 9. They have placed clips in the analysis room and look at positioning, body shape and the right moment to shoot.
The 27-year-old may have tried to impress the past in the past, but was inspired by a video of Salah where the Egyptian says that players do not have to be at their highest level for 90 minutes, as long as they come to life when it matters.
“We witness a phenomenon,” wrote a columnist from Le Parisien on Dembele this week, while Luis Enrique described him as “as a PlayStation football player.”
PSG has long been the smiling stock of the continent for some of their flops on the largest stage. But Luis Enrique has turned them away from a selfish team from Galacticos to a young team that is not full of individuals, but one who thrives his close gathering.
Dembele is now the leader-like figure, but he is supplemented with talented stars such as Bradley Barcola, Desire Doue and Walter Zaire-Emy. New signature, Georgia wing player Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, will add a new dimension after his January -relocation from Napoli.
Regarding that balloon d'Or of the old coach Stephan, various contenders will be on the field on Wednesday when Dembele and friends meet Salah and Co in the Parc des Princes. Since the losing of Bayern Munich in November, PSG have been unbeaten in 22 games and scored 66 goals at the time.
Given the shape of both teams, this is a match that would fit for the grand finale of May in Munich.
“Since the turn of the year, Dembele has been completely transformed,” says Laurens. 'At the start of this season he would miss Sitter after Sitter. We never thought he could drastically improve this to be so efficient.
“No one in their wildest dreams in the club would have thought he could become in the first Brazilian Ronaldo!”
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