The Ballon d'Or will finally return to the field. Several weeks after his injury contracted during the September rally with the France team and his outing against Ukraine, Ousmane Dembélé (28 years old) is in the group made up by Luis Enrique for the trip to Bayer Leverkusen, this Tuesday evening (9 p.m.) on the third day of the Champions League. Until now, he had not been able to play in the Paris Saint-Germain jersey with his Ballon d'Or status and had taken the opportunity to establish a long media campaign.
Indeed, the French international was in great demand during his convalescence. He made an express return trip to present his individual trophy to his childhood town of Évreux, before flying to Qatar, to present his Ballon d'Or to the Emir and continue his treatment. But to digest this period, Ousmane Dembélé felt the need to refocus on the sporting aspect, in addition to the expectations around his new status and his contractual situation which is starting to become relevant.
PSG protected him against Strasbourg
To avoid any conflagration, Paris Saint-Germain has decided to do everything to deflate the weight of expectations around its star. “He's a high quality player who returns, added value, but the group also showed that it was strong (without him). He worked hard to come back, but nothing changed. We will give him time to get back to his best level. We don’t expect him to break everything this (Tuesday) evening.”indicates an internal source at The Team.
“It’s Ousmane, it’s not the Ballon d’Or. It's the same player. We are very happy to have Ousmane back, like Marquinhos and Désiré Doué last week. It doesn’t change anything, we’ll see how he feels.”had also assured Luis Enrique, who preferred not to include him in the group against Strasbourg despite good feelings. On the field, but also internally, PSG will therefore not take any risks to protect its jewel – which seems “quiet, he laughs” before his big comeback – and allow him to stay on the same line as last season.
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