Day Dembele scored 10 in a 10-9 Paris win
As Dembele returns to Paris he recalls the days playing in rough city suburb that honed his skills
MOUSSA DEMBELE will return tomorrow to the city he still calls home e and which gave him his s greatest moment in football. .
The Celtic striker wakes up p every morning inspired by the e glowing tributes paid to his s developing talent by French legend d Zinedine Zidane.
But when it comes to reflecting on n the most memorable match of his s life he doesn’t dwell on an Old Firm m hat-trick, goals that helped clinch a historic treble or even a strike with h the French Under-21s.
If Dembele allows himself a daydream his mind wanders back to o the tough streets of Paris where he e was raised as a kid and where he e forged a reputation that soon n convinced boyhood favourites PSG to o sign him as a youth.
The 21-year-old will fall back into o the arms of his first love tomorrow w night in the Champions League e when Celtic take on PSG, one of the e tournament favourites, in a Parc des s Princes arena that was once a home e from home.
But it’s on the edgy outskirts of the big city, known in France as the “banlieue”, where football’s greats have always honed their character and sharpened their survival instincts, where recollections of Dembele’s most magical moment still linger today.
He said: “It was my street corner against another street corner. We won 10-9 and I think I ended up scoring 10 goals – 10 goals, 10 goals! When you’re young and playing against another neighbourhood that’s important.
“It’s important to win such games. It’s a great memory from when I was young – a great memory of street football.
“I love everything about this sport. It has been a pleasure for me. I learned almost everything I know through football. It taught me a lot of things in terms of being a man and a human being, as well as a footballer. It really means a lot to me.”
Dembele scored 32 goals from 49 matches last season as Celtic went undefeated to a domestic clean sweep, including their sixth title in a row. It was a magnificent return for a player who only cost a £500,000 compensation fee from Fulham and is now rated at least 60 times as valuable, with Europe’s biggest and richest clubs all checking regularly on his Parkhead progress. Real Madrid boss Zidane is among those leading the praise and has already told Dembele he can become as good as the greatest strikers in modern history. Zidane said: “I have played with the greatest strikers – Ronaldo, Henry, Raul. You knew on the biggest occasions they would win you games – and Dembele is already showing that. “I do understand the biggest clubs in Europe are being linked with him and that will be his destination eventually. But my advice for now is ignore it all.” Dembele, speaking in an interview with UEFA. com, added: “It means a lot to me when a legend – because Zidane is a legend – praises and makes positive comments about me. “I was pleased but at first I was shocked to hear that. The fact my work is not something that goes unnoticed, and the fact that a legend like Zidane speaks like that of me, my football ability and especially my future, gives an incentive to wake up in the morning and do a better job than others and get where I want to be.”
Dembele’s second campaign with the Scottish champions has been more challenging, with a troubling hamstring injury that kept him out of much of last season’s title run-in flaring up again over the summer.
He has still managed six goals from 13 appearances and drew a blank at Ross County at the weekend. But he is relishing the chance to return to play at PSG where his idol as a kid, Nicolas Anelka, started his senior career after a similar upbringing in the Parisien suburbs.
Anelka left Paris after one full season of topteam football to sign for Arsenal and Dembele also headed for London as a teenager, opting to join Fulham when he could barely speak a word of English
Dembele added: “I saw myself in him (Anelka) as a player – a young man from the banlieue who did everything to succeed.
“He is a man and a player I really admire. All the young people in the banlieue wanted to have a career like his even though it’s not an easy path.
“I was 15 going on 16 when I moved to London and yes, it was an important decision for me and especially for my family. For my mother and father, hhavingi theirthi childhildlleave homeh att 1616iis not easy. It was a difficult decision to take but I took it. I knew it was good for me, for my future, and I was proved to be right many times.
“Football gives you something in common which makes people understand each other. Football is the reason I moved from Paris in the first place and it’s thanks to football and myself I am where I am now.”
Dembele played in the last Champions League game at Parkhead against Bayern Munich, his first start in the group stage this season, and is relishing a return to his former club.
He said: “It’s a game like any other, against an important team, where I have to be focused.
“It would be good for me and my family to go back to the stadium and club where I grew up as a player and where I learned everything. It will be a pleasure to see the old Parc again.”
Dembele has yet to find the net in the group stage this season but scored two goals against Man City last season and once against Borussi a Monchengladbach.
The memories are p l easant but he conceded it was the 7-0 humiliation at Barcelona in September where he was best educated in the world’s most unforgiving club tournament.
He added: “I learned a lot. We experienced Barca, their game, their quality. For the players, for us, it was rough to have seven goals against us.
“But that gave us an incentive for future games and for me, as a player, I saw what it took to be the best.”
It taught me a lot of things in terms of being a man as well as a footballer MOUSSA DEMBELE