This Sunday evening, Désiré Doué played big or almost. Landed this summer for 50 million euros, excluding bonuses from Rennes, the young 19-year-old striker was slow to make his mark with PSG. Used regularly by Luis Enrique, he was unable to prove himself sharp and had many disappointing entries. To the point of seeing his coach publicly warn him. “Doué is a top player for the future. He needs the right mentality to help the team. It’s possible that his ideal position is in the middle and not as an attacking player, but I’m trying to awaken in him the desire to understand how to play in several positions. It is true that we would like everything to go faster and for him to consolidate himself as an important player, but it is a path”confided the Spanish coach. We now had to respond on the ground and have that famous trigger.
And after several average matches, Désiré Doué ended up having his benchmark match against Salzburg this Tuesday in the Champions League with a goal and an assist (3-0). Enough to launch his adventure in Paris because this Sunday, the French international hopeful started as a starter against OL on the left side of the attack. Luis Enrique decided to reward him and thus send Bradley Barcola to the bench. And the least we can say is that Désiré Doué responded perfectly by being in all the right moves and logically received a rating of 8.5 from the FM editorial team (elected man of the match) . He quickly gained confidence by delivering the first assist of the match to Ousmane Dembélé. After mystifying Ainsley Maitland-Niles with a spectacular dribble, he entered the area to offer a cake to Dembélé (1-0, 8th).
A stunning rebirth
A few minutes later, he was involved in the second Parisian goal. In the area, after another very precise dribble, he pushed Tolisso to make a mistake and obtained a penalty, quietly transformed by Vitinha (14th). Elusive on the left side, he did not hesitate to dezone to create danger and disrupt a tough Lyon defense. We have also seen him several times on the pitch communicating with Dembélé to tell him to move aside. Proof of his excellent form of the day, he scored a sublime goal with a shot into the top corner. Unfortunately for him, his goal was canceled for a slight offside position by Achraf Hakimi at the start of the action.
But nothing to tarnish his XXL performance. And the Parc des Princes was not mistaken since at the time of its exit (83rd), it received a standing ovation from the Parisian public. “I won’t say it’s my night, I’ll say it’s the team’s night. There you go, we continue with a very good dynamic. We managed to win the last match in the UCL, it was very important this evening, we were able to create a lot of chances and defend well too. Even if we conceded a goal, we will try to continue to bring home three points each time. Above all, I think we defended well. From the start, we listened to the coach’s tactics, we knew how to press them from the start and that made the match easier for us.” analyzed Doué at the microphone of DAZN after the match. Proof of his big match, Luis Enrique was also very complimentary about him after the match. “He is young, he has a lot of qualities with and without the ball, he is capable of sacrificing himself for the team, it’s a very good thing for PSG”. We will now have to confirm in the long term because at PSG, you need regularity to exist. Even more with Luis Enrique. But Désiré Doué is on the right track.
