In a few years, fans of Vendée Fontenay (N3), fifth division, will still be able to tell their grandchildren that they crossed paths with a Ballon d’Or. It was four days before Christmas, and even though the time was right, he didn’t give them any presents.
Starting for the first time since October 29, with the captain’s armband around his arm, Ousmane Dembélé held his place, this Saturday in Nantes, to pave the way for the round of 16 of the Coupe de France at Paris Saint-Germain.
As is often the case in the most beautiful national competitions, Le Petit initially resisted, puffing out his chest, galvanized by his audience in a packed Beaujoire stadium (34,600 spectators), to do better than evenly matched for a good 20 minutes in a thrilling atmosphere. Then the European champions unfolded, obviously carried by the best player on the planet who, like a conductor, set the tempo to follow.
There was something musical in the gestures of number 10, like a beautiful melody which seemed to mean that everything was ordered so that it would shine. It must be said that the pitch, in very good condition, was far from the quagmire served up by Espaly last season and that he had no shortage of spaces to stand out.
Ramos invites himself to the party
In the first half, Dembélé, who came to get the balls very low, showed that he had legs. A way for him to set the record straight after a frustrating entry against Flamengo in the final of the Intercontinental Cup where he tripped up by missing his penalty. The former Barcelona player is not yet in his best form, but he was impatient to finally start a match.
He needed that trigger, a spark, to ward off the frustration of a first part of the season thwarted by two ischio injuries, one to the calf and a virus which dried him out before the trip to Bilbao in the Champions League on December 10. HAS
when fireworks were fired at the same time from outside the enclosure, he launched Désiré Doué into orbit for the opener (0-1, 25th) before converting with his right a penalty obtained by Gonçalo Ramos (0-2, 34th), the other big man of the evening, author of a double after the break in an interval of five minutes (0-3, 53rd; 0-4, 58th).
Despite a very reshuffled team, the debut of goalkeeper Renato Marin (19 years old), decisive on a save at the end of the game, Noah Nsoki (18 years old) and the unfortunate David Boly (16 years old), injured after only 29 minutes, the Parisians did what was necessary to ensure a quiet start.
Dembélé, as a superstar, left to the ovation of a stadium committed to his cause which could not let him leave without having congratulated him on his historic year. It’s not every day that a Ballon d’Or visits you, even less that he faces players whose daily reality is not limited to the ball. This deserved a little nod to the European champions who close 2025, not without a touch of emotion and the feeling of having lived through the last gigantic months. Roll on 2026!
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