Luis Enrique defends decision to give PSG star Dembele extra rest

Luis Enrique has defended his decision to give Ousmane Dembele an extra break ahead of Paris Saint-Germain's trip to Lille on Friday.

Dembele featured for PSG in the Super Cup, Trophee des Champions and Ligue 1 opener against Rennes, but was substituted at half-time in the latter.

The 29-year-old did not play in any of PSG's pre-season games after helping France to a fourth-place finish at the World Cup this summer.

He scored six goals, including a hat-trick against Norway in the group stage, and provided two assists for Didier Deschamps' side.

After their 2-2 draw with Rennes, it was reported Dembele asked to be rested in order to return to full fitness, meaning he would miss their clash with Lille.

Luis Enrique, however, believes such a decision is not new for PSG, who were happy to prioritise the forward's request.

"It was the same last year, when we gave the players some time to recover," said the PSG boss.

"That's been the case with Dembele, with Hakimi and with Mbappe over the last three years.

"I'm a big fan of Ousmane; he's a key player, and he went to great lengths to be there for our two finals during his summer holidays. He has been, is and will be a key player for us.

"He made a good decision this week, and that's all there is to it. I'm convinced that he's on the right track.

"There's always noise surrounding PSG regardless of what decisions are made, and the players are used to my way of handling that."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Lille – Tanguy Nianzou

Tanguy Nianzou could face former club PSG, for whom he played 13 matches and 907 minutes in all competitions before the season was interrupted in 2019-20, aged 17.

Since then, the Lille recruit has only recorded more starts and minutes in a single club season once, in 2022-23 with Sevilla (26 & 2261).

Paris Saint-Germain – Ferran Torres

Against Rennes on MD1, Ferran Torres became the third player to score a brace on his debut for PSG in all competitions, after Patrick Mboma in 1994 and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2012.

Three players have scored in each of their first two matches for PSG in all competitions in the 21st century: Julian Draxler, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, all in 2017.

MATCH PREDICTION – PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN WIN

PSG have scored 33 goals in 10 Ligue 1 matches against Lille since the start of the 2021-22 season, at least seven more than against any other side present throughout that period (26 v Brest).

However, after drawing with PSG last season (1-1), Lille could go two home Ligue 1 matches unbeaten against them for the first time since a 12-game run between 2000 and 2012 (W8 D4).

PSG have failed to win any of their last three matches against French teams (D1 L2) and have only had one longer winless run against such sides in the last 10 years, between May and August 2023 (four).

Lille made 43 clearances on MD1 of this Ligue 1 season, more than any other team, while PSG recorded the lowest total (eight).

Lille (19) and PSG (14) were two of the three teams to average fewer than 20 clearances per game in Ligue 1 last season, alongside Marseille (19).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Lille – 23.6%

Draw – 24.5%

Paris Saint-Germain – 51.9%