The confidence of Ousmane Dembélé

The 21-year-old attacker showed us in Barcelona-PSV that his time is now.

 

It is hard not to love the Barcelona striker Ousmane Dembélé, with his bending turns, fearless leaps, and free-flowing runs, the type of things usually only attempted in Marvel movies or by inebriated 20-somethings.

I have always loved Dembélé, and my love deepened for him when he was jiving with the Afro-French players who dominated this summer’s World Cup. While not as involved on the field as he or I would have liked for Les Bleus, he still found a way to make his joy felt. The elation was captured in a recording of Dembélé joyously singing “Seka Seka,” an Afro-trap hit from the Congolese virtuoso DJ Mareshal.

It is unsurprising the 21-year-old has impressed this year at Barcelona. He is no longer hampered by the injuries that plagued his initial campaign in Spain, and, freed up to be the man alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, he has thrived.

In a Champion’s League match Tuesday, Dembélé lit the pitch ablaze. The highlight was his 74th minute screamer where he married a ballerina’s grace and kickboxer’s might. Receiving the ball on his left foot, between two defenders, he played keep-away, then dragged the ball back between them and sprinted toward the net. The PSV defender facing him pointed, as if maybe there was a man on the pitch coming to help douse this fire. No one came. Dembélé took four steps, then perfectly placed a rocket in the bottom right corner of the goal.

Though it’s fun to celebrate those small, brilliant moments from Dembélé, it is a disservice to the total body of work we’ve seen from this prodigy.

And Barcelona needs Dembélé to be consistently brilliant if they are to win La Liga and make another run at a Champions League final this season. If Barcelona is destined for success this year, it will be due to Dembélé’s ability to keep defenses guessing, keep them on the back foot, and take advantage of the space that’s afforded to them while opposing teams are freaking out about Messi. Luckily for Barcelona, Dembélé’s brilliance comes alive when he totes the rock. His dribbling, flicks, and crosses are as important to Barcelona as is Messi’s total dominance.

Barcelona has always thrived when the component parts are all clicking. If Dembélé is playing well, it allows Messi to find space away from him. And if Messi has space, as he did Tuesday against PSV in the Champions League, he will punish you. (He had a hat trick in the match.)

Yet still, watching the match, I kept being drawn to Dembélé.

Dembélé’s sprints through the pitch are electrifying. It is difficult to watch anyone else on Barcelona at times, as I kept myself looking for the dazzling Frenchman we were unable to see shine at the World Cup. How can a man so young be imbued with such talent? 

It appears he’s still finding out himself. Yes, he has head-scratching moments, misplayed shots, and step-overs attempted through three defenders that have no chance of working — moments that show his youth. Dembélé is far from perfect, but one can already see the brilliance in him.

Playing at a club like Barcelona, next to giants of the game, no one would blame Dembélé if he deferred to names like Messi or Suarez or Philippe Coutinho. Don’t lose the ball, pass it to the greats, don’t screw anything up. But Dembélé isn’t interested in that. He wants to go at everyone. He wants to thrive. And thus, the future looks like Dembélé. Barcelona’s continued excellence will rely on finding those daring players on the wing who won’t settle, who will continue to attack and draw defenders away from the icons of the game.

And for now, Dembélé can provide that. For the casual observer, at least, those fearless runs to the box from Dembélé might result in a foul that can lead to another iconic Messi free kick. But as his goal showed us, soon enough he won’t be setting up or drawing defenders’ attention away from the icons of the game, he will be one of those icons.