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Football

13th Aug 2018

This Ousmane Dembélé interview is more relevant than ever after his goal against Sevilla

He scored the decisive goal in the Spanish Super Cup last night as Barcelona beat Sevilla 2-1, and it proves exactly what he said during his time at Rennes

Reuben Pinder

Ousmane Dembélé is a unique player

Barcelona won the Spanish Super Cup last night, beating Sevilla 2-1 in the first ever edition of the fixture to be played outside Spanish mainland territory.

In Tangier, Morocco, Barcelona came from behind to win 2-1, courtesy of goals from Gerard Piqué and Ousmane Dembélé. It almost slipped out of their grasp, as Sevilla won a penalty in the 89th minute, only for Marc-André ter Stegen to step up and save it.

What proved to be the decisive goal, from Ousmane Dembélé, was a rocket from the edge of the box that clipped the bar as it flew past the helpless Tomáš Vaclík. The Barça winger struck the ball with his right foot, which is considered his weaker side despite his obvious strength when shooting with it.

Rewind back to Dembélé’s days at Rennes in Ligue 1 and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see the player score such a goal with his supposedly weaker side.

After a league match with Rennes, Dembélé was once asked which was his stronger foot; a pretty straightforward question for most people to answer. But such is his ambidexterity, he had to think about it, before concluding that he was in fact left-footed.

In the interview he claims to be left-footed, but admits that he shoots better with his right foot.

Barcelona have a real gem on their hands given Dembélé’s unique skillset. He struggled for form last season after suffering a hamstring injury early on, but looks ready to kick in on in a Barça shirt now. La Liga’s full-backs, on both sides, will be worried.

Barcelona kick off their La Liga campaign this weekend against Alavés on Saturday night. New signing Arturo Vidal, who has just signed from Bayern Munich, could be set to make his debut for the Catalan side.