Xavi compares Ousmane Dembele to Neymar following brilliant performance

Barcelona strolled to a 5-1 victory in their opening match of the Champions League victory, setting the tone in a tough group with Inter and Bayern Munich to come.

Naturally Robert Lewandowski made most of the headlines with his hat-trick against Viktoria Plzen. The Polish star marked his European debut with Barcelona with an excellent performance, but it is testament to the showing of Ousmane Dembele that the French winger stole some of the limelight from him.

Dembele provided two assists during the match, the first winning the ball back from the opposition, before whipping a perfect cross onto the head of Lewandowski. His second was a wonderful, looping chip over the top of the defence for Ferran Torres to finish first time.

Speaking after the match, manager Xavi Hernandez was full of praise for his star winger. Sport carried his words.

“He is happy, enjoying himself, content, he is important for me, for the group… He makes the difference, assists, scores, he is a knife and he is in a good moment.”

“I don’t want to shower him in praise but the capacity he has in the one-on-one is at the level of the best Neymar. He has to be more bold, shoot at goal more and score.”

“He is a good kid and he has to take advantage of these characteristics. He is capable of making the difference and he is doing so.”

No doubt if Dembele continues in this form, his combination with Lewandowski will be tricky to stop. Already the leading assist provider in La Liga this year, Dembele missed plenty of game time and still created more goals than his peers.

Tags Barcelona Neymar Junior Ousmane Dembele Xavi Hernandez

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