OUSMANE Dembele marked his return from injury with a goal as defending champions Paris Saint-Germain delivered a stunning 7-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Both teams finished the match with ten men after each received a red card during the encounter at Leverkusen’s BayArena.
Dembele scored PSG’s sixth goal just three minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute for his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in early September.
Desire Doue scored twice while Willian Pacho, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Nuno Mendes and Vitinha also found the net for the dominant visitors.
PSG coach Luis Enrique declared his team’s ambition to win everything again this season following their impressive performance.
“That will be difficult but we have the confidence we gained last year,“ Enrique said.
Aleix Garcia scored both goals for the hosts in what proved to be a challenging night for the German side.
PSG lost centre-back Illia Zabarnyi to a red card on 37 minutes after he conceded a second penalty of the match.
Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich was also dismissed for crashing his elbow into Doue’s jaw just a few minutes earlier.
Leverkusen coach Kasper Hjulmand acknowledged his team’s collapse during a crucial seven-minute period before halftime.
“We met the best team in the world right now,“ Hjulmand told Amazon Prime.
PSG demonstrated their championship quality despite being injury-hit and inconsistent this season.
The French champions took an early lead when Mendes delivered a cross for Pacho to head home after just seven minutes.
Leverkusen missed a golden opportunity to equalise when Alejandro Grimaldo hit the post with a penalty after 25 minutes.
The match turned decisively in PSG’s favour when Andrich received his red card for a needless foul on Doue on 33 minutes.
Zabarnyi’s nightmare performance continued as he gave away a second penalty and received a red card for bringing down Christian Kofane as the last defender.
Garcia converted the resulting penalty to briefly give Leverkusen hope at 1-1.
PSG responded magnificently by scoring three goals in eight minutes to stun the hosts before halftime.
Doue scored twice either side of a Kvaratskhelia strike to give PSG a commanding 4-1 lead at the break.
Mendes extended the advantage just five minutes into the second half with another well-taken goal.
Garcia provided a rare highlight for the hosts with a spectacular long-distance strike on 54 minutes.
Dembele completed his successful return by scoring from a tight angle to make it 6-2.
Vitinha added the final goal to complete an incredible European night for the defending champions. – AFP
