PARIS (AP) — Ousmane Dembélé put aside transfer rumors and scored a crucial brace as Paris Saint-Germain beat Lille 3-0 on Friday and returned to the top of Ligue 1.
French media reported last week that the 2025 Ballon d’Or winner had turned down a new contract.
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His coach Luis Enrique called the speculation fake news and Dembélé was extremely focused during the game between the two teams in the league’s top four.
His shot from over 20 meters out in the 12th minute gave the Lille goalkeeper no chance, and his second goal in the 18th minute of the second half was a reminder of why he won the Ballon d’Or.
With four defenders in front of him, Dembélé somehow found space and fired his most audacious shot, which confused goalkeeper Burke Ozer and landed under the crossbar.
Substitute Bradley Barcola, whose future has been subject to speculation, burst through a lax defense in stoppage time to score the third goal.
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The victory eased nerves for the defending champions, who had been knocked out of the Coupe de France by city rivals PSG just days earlier.
Friday’s victory puts PSG back at the top of the league, two points ahead of Lens, who have a game against second-to-bottom Auxerre on Saturday.
Lille remains fourth, 10 points behind.
Monaco loses again
Monaco once again performed poorly and lost 3-1 at home to Lorient, suffering their seventh defeat in eight games.
Lorient’s Bamba Dieng had a goal disallowed in the first half, but he scored midway through the second half. The Senegal forward capitalized on the Monaco defender’s mistake.
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Ansu Fati equalized eight minutes later but goals from Jean-Victor Macongo in the 85th minute and Demane Karim with three minutes remaining gave visitors Lorient all three points and extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine games.
Lorient is one point behind ninth-placed Monaco.
It was another unhappy start to the weekend for Monaco, who dropped to 2 wins, 5 draws and 9 losses heading into Friday night’s games.
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
