Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele produced a stunning display against Juventus in a pre season friendly on Wednesday night.
The two football powerhouses clashed in Dallas, Texas. All eyes were on new signing Robert Lewandowski but it was Dembele who stole the show after scoring two superb goals in the first half before being subbed off in the interval.
The winger was linked with a move away from the Catalan club as his contract talks stalled throughout the 21/22 season. But earlier on this month it was announced that Dembele has extended his stay at the Camp Nou till 2024.
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During the match against Juventus, he opened the scoring in the 34th minute with a lovely finish after cutting in from the right hand side then checked back onto his right foot and blasted the ball past keeper Wojciech Szczesny.
The Frenchman scored his second goal of the evening after Moise Kean equalised for the Turin club.
His second goal was sublime as he took the ball and drove towards to Juventus defence before he curled a low drive past the goalkeeper.
After scoring his goal he produced a celebration dubbed the ‘Night Night’ and was made popular by NBA star Steph Curry. After the footage emerged, Curry reacted to Dembele copying his celebration by tweeting: “A movement!!”
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Fans were quick to react to the player’s goals.
One fan tweeted: “Dembele is a joke man you can’t be this good.”
Another said: “Dembele takes a 40% wage cut and turns into Ronaldinho.”
Despite Dembele’s stunning brace, the two teams played out a 2-2 draw after Kean scored his second of the game early in the second half.
After the match, Barcelona manager Xavi was impressed by Dembele’s performance.
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He said: “Dembele? Today he has shown what he is capable of, he is special, there are not many like him. He needs to make a difference and it has to to be more consistent.”
Dembele also spoke about his two goals.
The Frenchman said: “The two goals give me a lot of confidence. I’m so happy. I’ll give everything for this club.”
This renewed confidence from Dembele will give Xavi a selection headache as Dembele’s favoured position is on the right wing, the same position as new signing Raphinha. The battle for the starting spot will be one to look out for in the new season.
Barcelona will be hoping for a much improved performance in the upcoming season after a largely disappointing 21/22 campaign which saw them knocked out of the Champions League in the group stage before being dumped out of the Europa League in the quarter finals.
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The pressure will be on Xavi to deliver silverware. They are next in action on Sunday as the take on MLS side New York Red Bulls.
Topics: Barcelona, Ousmane Dembele, Juventus
Marcus Chan