Ousmane Dembélé as a false number 9: Luis Enrique has revealed the reasons behind this surprising choice.
In the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Real Sociedad (2-1) last Tuesday, Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique surprised many by deploying Ousmane Dembélé in the role of a false number 9. This decision was justified by the Spanish coach during his press conference this Tuesday ahead of PSG-Nice.
“In reality, it’s a very basic concept. What a coach should aim for is to ensure that your best players have a lot of touches on the ball. Dembélé is one of them, and the majority of teams are accustomed to closing down the middle, so we use the wings. Our idea was to create superiority and find him. This prevented Real’s pressing and allowed us to create opportunities,” evaluated the former FC Barcelona coach.
Luis Enrique also explained why Ousmane Dembélé often needs to rest, either on the bench or by staying at home. “We study every little detail for each player individually. Every match is important, like tomorrow’s match or Champions League matches. Ousmane has no problem; he is available for the coach. It’s necessary to control the playing time for highly explosive players like Dembélé or Mbappé. They have breathtaking speed that involves risks. This means adjusting the number of minutes they play,” he revealed.