Ousmane Dembele on Wednesday scored a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain romped to a 4-1 win at VfB Stuttgart and qualified for the UEFA Champions League knockout stages.
PSG were at risk of elimination after a disappointing league stage, with three losses and a draw, but were utterly dominant against an outclassed Stuttgart side as they confirmed their place in the playoffs.
With six minutes gone, Bradley Barcola headed PSG in front after Desire Doue stood a cross up at the back post following a corner.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Stuttgart probed for an equalizer, but PSG hit on the counterattack, Dembele tapping a Barcola pass into an empty net.
Always a threat on the counter, Doue, Barcola and Dembele linked up again for PSG’s third, with the latter blasting in from the right.
Dembele thrashed in another superb effort shortly after halftime to snuff out Stuttgart’s unlikely comeback hopes.
Stuttgart pulled one back on 77 minutes when Willian Pacho scored an own-goal, but the damage was already done, with PSG keeping their hopes of a first Champions League trophy alive.
“There was a lot to be proud of,” Dembele told Canal Plus. “We’ve been doing well for some time now, controlling matches and winning our games. There are players who want to win things here with PSG, who run and fight for the shirt. That’s what produces these results.”
The victory relieves the pressure on PSG coach Luis Enrique and sets the French giants up for a two-legged knockout tie next month. PSG will face either of Ligue 1 rivals AS Monaco or Stade Brestois, with Dembele saying “whatever happens in the playoff, it’ll be a battle.”
The loss means Stuttgart were eliminated from the Champions League on their return to the competition after 15 years.
“We saw today what the top of the football world looks like — I can say that without jealousy or envy,” Stuttgart head coach Sebastian Hoeness said.
“It was incredible how they played,” he said.
Unbeaten and with a 10-point lead atop the table in Ligue 1, PSG had struggled with a tough draw in the competition’s new format. Losses to Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, along with a home draw against PSV Eindhoven, had PSG facing an unthinkable early exit in a competition reformed to favor Europe’s big guns.
Both sides knew a point would likely be enough to reach the knockouts and with PSG desperate to continue in Europe, they had fended off pre-match suggestions they might play for a draw in Germany.
Any such speculation was dispelled early when PSG energetically pressed Stuttgart into giving up a corner, with Barcola heading in a clever flick on from Desire Doue.
PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved twice in quick succession from Stuttgart’s Chris Fuehrich before the visitors hit back on the counterattack, Dembele tapping in a pass from Barcola after 26 minutes.
With new signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ineligible to play until the playoffs, Dembele showed the quality PSG already have at their disposal. The France forward put PSG up by three 10 minutes before halftime, blasting an unstoppable strike past Fabian Bredlow.
The former Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona forward completed his hat-trick in the 54th minute, curling into the top corner.
Stuttgart pushed PSG’s Pacho into an own-goal with 13 minutes remaining, but the effort remained just a consolation, with the visitors remaining in total control.
The only concern for PSG was a late injury to Warren Zaire-Emery, who hurt his knee in the dying stages.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
RSS