Luis Enrique backs Ousmane Dembele for Ballon d’Or after PSG’s European glory

Paris St Germain boss Luis Enrique has backed Ousmane Dembele to win the Ballon d’Or after he helped inspire the French club’s maiden Champions League success.

Dembele did not score in Saturday’s 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan but he set up two goals and produced a superb flick in the build up to PSG’s third.

The former Barcelona attacker has 33 goals in all competitions this campaign, with 22 of them coming in this calendar year to help the Parisians add the Champions League to Ligue 1 and Coupe de France titles.

Luis Enrique dropped Dembele in October for a defeat away to Arsenal and the forward was sent off a month later at Bayern Munich, but he responded supremely to achieve his best scoring season to date and become favourite with bookmakers for the Ballon d’Or.

While Dembele was happy to play down the accolade ahead of Saturday’s match, his manager championed the 28-year-old following a one-sided final.

“I would like to say that everyone is talking about the Ballon d’Or but I would give it to Ousmane Dembele,” Enrique told a press conference.

“If we think about how he defended, he showed just what he was made of. He was a leader, he was humble, he got back down and defended. I think without a shadow of doubt, he deserves this.

“Not only for the goals that he scored but also for the pressing we saw. We have seen such a season from him and he was exceptional in this final.”

Dembele will get the chance to further press his claim later this month when PSG take part in the Club World Cup in America.

Even though Enrique’s team will get hardly any rest, he plans to add the continental cup to their Champions League, Ligue 1, Coupe de France and Trophee des Champions successes.

Enrique added: “I think it is an incredible