History for Dembouz! Ballon d'Or holder climbs France's Champions League scoring chart
The reigning Ballon d'Or winner keeps adding chapters: Ousmane Dembele is now the fifth-highest French scorer in Champions League history.
Details: Dembele's strike against Slovan Bratislava in PSG's league phase opener took him to 30 goals in the competition, moving him past David Trezeguet (29). Only Antoine Griezmann (44), Thierry Henry (50), Kylian Mbappe (71) and Karim Benzema (90) sit above him among Frenchmen.
What makes the milestone remarkable is how late the explosion came. Dembele spent years as a brilliant but inconsistent winger at Dortmund and Barcelona, before Luis Enrique's move to a central role unleashed a monster: back-to-back Champions League titles with PSG, the 2025 Ballon d'Or, and now a scoring rate in Europe that belongs to pure No 9s. At 29, with Griezmann's 44 within touching distance this season, the trajectory points only one way. For a player whose career was once defined by injuries and what-ifs, the rewrite is complete: Dembouz is no longer the talent that never was, he is one of the most decisive French forwards the competition has ever seen.
It's worth noting that Dembele's 30 goals have come across four clubs, Rennes, Dortmund, Barcelona and PSG, a journey almost as winding as his dribbles.
Reminder: Real Madrid fans suspect Mbappe may have left Spain before the match!
Miguel Solomons
Dailysports's expert
