Dembele handed extra break after demanding schedule

Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique has defended his decision to grant Ousmane Dembele an extra rest period ahead of Friday's Ligue 1 trip to Lille, insisting the move is part of a long-established approach at the club.

Dembele featured for PSG in the Trophee des Champions, the Super Cup and the Ligue 1 opener against Rennes, but was withdrawn at half-time in the latter. The 29-year-old missed all of PSG's pre-season fixtures after helping France to a fourth-place finish at the World Cup over the summer, where he scored six goals — including a hat-trick against Norway in the group stage — and contributed two assists for Didier Deschamps' side.

It was reported following the 2-2 draw with Rennes that Dembele asked to be rested in order to return to full fitness, meaning he would miss the trip to Lille. Luis Enrique, however, believes such a decision is nothing new for PSG, who were happy to prioritise the forward's request.

"It was the same last year, when we gave the players some time to recover," said the PSG boss. "That's been the case with Dembele, with Hakimi and with Mbappe over the last three years."

"I'm a big fan of Ousmane; he's a key player, and he went to great lengths to be there for our two finals during his summer holidays. He has been, is and will be a key player for us," the French manager added.

"He made a good decision this week, and that's all there is to it. I'm convinced that he's on the right track."

Luis Enrique also sought to brush aside the scrutiny that inevitably surrounds the capital club: "There's always noise surrounding PSG regardless of what decisions are made, and the players are used to my way of handling that."

Players to watch

Tanguy Nianzou could face his former club PSG, for whom he played 13 matches and 907 minutes in all competitions before the 2019-20 campaign was interrupted, aged just 17. Since then, the Lille recruit has only recorded more starts and minutes in a single club season once — in 2022-23 with Sevilla (26 & 2261).

Ferran Torres became the third player to score a brace on debut for PSG in all competitions, after Patrick Mboma in 1994 and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2012. Three players have found the net in each of their first two matches for PSG in the 21st century: Julian Draxler, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, all in 2017.

Match prediction and key stats

PSG have scored 33 goals in 10 Ligue 1 matches against Lille since the start of the 2021-22 season — at least seven more than against any other side throughout that period (26 v Brest). However, after drawing with PSG last season (1-1), Lille could go two home Ligue 1 matches unbeaten against them for the first time since a 12-game run between 2000 and 2012 (W8 D4).

PSG have failed to win any of their last three matches against French teams (D1 L2) and have only gone longer without a victory against such sides once in the last decade, between May and August 2023 (four games).

Lille made 43 clearances on MD1 of this Ligue 1 season, more than any other team, while PSG registered the lowest total (eight). Lille (19) and PSG (14) were two of the three teams to average fewer than 20 clearances per game last season, alongside Marseille (19).

Opta win probability: Lille 23.6% | Draw 24.5% | Paris Saint-Germain 51.9%