Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick for PSG. Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick for PSG. Paris Saint-Germain secured a play-off spot in the Champions League as Ousmane Dembele played chief tormentor in a 4-1 away demolition of Stuttgart. (More Football News)lucky cola
Dembele netted a hat-trick and fellow France forward Bradley Barcolalucky cola added another as PSG qualified for the play-offs as one of the eight seeded teams for Friday's draw.
BY Outlook Sports Desk
In an incredible run-up to the final, the Indian men's hockey team did not concede a single goal and conjured imperious scorelines of 4-0 (against Hungary), 7-0 (against United States), 9-0 (vs Japan) and 10-0 (vs France in the semi-finals).
The win on Wednesday meant PSG finished 15th in the 36-team league, with the result eliminating Stuttgart, who had a woeful first half and could only reduce the arrears through a Willian Pacho own goal.
Luis Enrique's PSG were in danger of also missing the cut in November before they completed a remarkable turnaround, winning their last three games and scoring 11 goals.
The visitors, who will face either Brest or Monaco, both Ligue 1 rivals, went ahead after six minutes when Barcola ghosted his markers to head home from Desire Doue’s delivery.
Stuttgart came close when Chris Fuhrich's brutal strike was parried away by Gianluigi Donnarumma,bl777 casino but on the resulting counter-attack, Dembele slid the ball past Fabian Bredlow after being set up by Barcola.
Dembele struck again with a missile of a cross-shot that went into the opposite side of the net to put PSG in a very comfortable spot 10 minutes before half-time.
35 - Paris had not led 3-0 so quickly in a Champions League match (34:01) since 2 October 2013 against Benfica (29:56). Present. pic.twitter.com/1TVtRWCwio
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) January 29, 2025The France forward was at it again after the break, curling a splendid shot into the top corner from Achraf Hakimi's pass in the box to complete his treble.
Fuhrich helped to pull one back with a strike that went in off Pacho in the 77th minute, but Stuttgart never threatened a comeback and finished 26th in the league.
Instead it was PSG who wrapped up their league phase in style a week after beating Manchester City 4-2 from being two goals down.
Data Debrief: Dominant Dembele
In-form Dembele has now scored eight goals in his last five matches across all competitions.
He became the fifth hat-trick scorer for PSG in Champions League play, and it was just the second treble of his professional career, coming 3,251 days since his first for Rennes against Nantes in Ligue 1 (March 2016).
Barcola, meanwhile, is the first PSG player to both score and assist in consecutive Champions League games since Kylian Mbappe in November 2022.
