Ousmane Dembele talks Messi, PSG, his fitness and style

Ousmane Dembele spoke to UEFA.com in an exclusive interview, ahead of Barcelona’s crucial Champions League tie against PSG tomorrow. The winger talked about his time in Spain so far, his relationship Lionel Messi and his fitness struggles among other things.

Dembele, who recently made his 100th appearance for Barcelona, has been one of the club’s most promising players this season. Hotly tipped to be one of the Blaugrana’s future superstars, he is finally beginning to find his feet after a plethora of injury woes.

Ousmane Dembélé posing with the Frenchmen after reaching his 100th game in a Barça shirt! pic.twitter.com/yjdGkGBUGa

— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) February 14, 2021

Here are the key excerpts from his interview:

On playing alongside Messi: “Leo is a genius, we all know about him, he’s a genius, he’s the best player in the history of football. He inspired me when I was young, he inpires me now and it’s honestly an honor for me to play alongside him.”

“Being a Barcelona fan since I was a child, playing alongside the best player in the club’s history is extraordinary. On top of that I feel it’s easy to play with him. He always finds the right pass, he tries to put you in the best position.”

On his fitness issues: “Physically I think when I came here I was very frail. Even when I was starting out professionally at Stade Rennais and Borussia Dortmund, I was very frail, but I’ve come on a long way here at Barcelona with the physical trainers. My way of training, my way of preparing for matches, it’s all changed.”

On his style of play: “I like dribbling, I like to go forward all by myself when I’ve got the ball, so they sometimes tell me to calm down, to play the ball back, to wait for a team-mate and not to always try to dribble past three or four players.”

On the PSG clash: “We’ll face one of the biggest candidates to win the UEFA Champions League. There will be revenge in the air due to the media trying to spice up things. However, we don’t talk about it in the squad because we know it’ll be a difficult game. We know Paris, they are the current Champions League runners-up.”

Source: BarçaTV+