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Dembélé scores hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain beat Brest 5-2 in thriller

Paris took down Stade Brestois 5-2 as Ousmane Dembélé scored his second successive hat-trick before facing them in the Champions League playoff next week.

ByAlan Mezoela|
Ousmane Dembélé celebrating one of his three goals against Brest with Barcola and Kvaratskhelia.
Ousmane Dembélé celebrating one of his three goals against Brest with Barcola and Kvaratskhelia. | FRED TANNEAU/GettyImages

Following their dominant Champions League display against Vfb Stuttgart, PSG travelled to Brest for Matchday 20 of the Ligue 1 McDonald's. This game will be an important rehearsal as these two teams will also face each other in the playoff round of the Champions League for a place in the round of 16 of the competition.

For this game, Luis Enrique chose to align Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola up front. The Georgian makes his second appearance as a PSG player, while Joao Neves is out of the squad tending to a knock sustained on Wednesday evening.

Paris Saint-Germain's starting XI:Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos (cap.), Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Fabian Ruiz, Kang-In Lee, Vitinha; Kvaratskhelia, Dembélé, Barcola.

Stade Brestois starting XI: Bizot; Lala, Chardonnet, Ndiaye, Zogbé; Faivre, Lee-Melou, Del Castillo, Camara; Sima, Ajorque.

Brest vs PSG: Dembélé scores hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain beat Brest 5-2 in thriller

In the first fixture opposing two sides that will face twice more in the Champions League playoff, Paris and Brest provided to the Stade Francis Le Blé spectators an impressive display of quality football in the first 25 minutes of the game with both sides close to opening the score. Though the game was balanced, Paris ball possession provided them with more ammunitions while intensifying their tempo.

And soon, Barcola offered Ousmane Dembélé his 12th goal of the season in Ligue 1 after a remarkable move started on the left wing (29'). Despite trailling, the hosts kept up their offensive intentions, and came close to level the score through Faivre but Donnarumma pulled out an incredible save to deny him and keep his team ahead (30').

Both sides went into the half-time break with the French champions 1-0, courtesy of Dembélé's 17th goal of the season. While the beginning of the game was even between these teams, the second part of the half saw Paris dominating, pushing for a second goal in this game that could be crucial.

Brest came back into the second half with a completely different intensity and scored the equaliser through Romain Del Castillo (50') though despite their domination on the game in the first 10 minutes of the game, Ousmane Dembélé scored s brace and put his team back on top again in this game (57'). This goal meant that the Frenchman becomes the new top scorer of the league with 13 goals. Moments later, Kang-In Lee perfectly set up Ousmane Dembélé for his hat-trick (62'), the second in successive games.

Ludovic Ajorque scored a superb goal to cut into Brest deficit, and revived the hopes of the hosts in this game, it is the 8th goal of the season for the former Strasbourg striker (71'). The Stade Brestois managed to create many chances but either found themselves unlucky or saw Donnarumma being decisive to keep Paris ahead in this game.

On an impressive counterattack led by Désiré Doué, Gonçalo Ramos scored the fourth goal of the game from close range (89'), just moments later, Gonçalo Ramos scored his second goal of the night (90+7').

Up next, Paris will take on Le Mans in the Coupe de France on February 4th.

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