Dembele Sparks PSG Comeback Victory Over Strasbourg

Paris Saint-Germain endured another testing outing in Ligue 1, but this time managed to secure a 3-1 comeback victory away to Strasbourg. Much of the Parisians' struggles stemmed from Luis Enrique's decision to rotate heavily and rest key starters. The reigning champions trailed until the 77th minute, but the second-half introductions of Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue sparked a dramatic turnaround, despite the Ballon d'Or winner missing a 72nd-minute penalty.

Strasbourg started brightly, carving out a dangerous opening just three minutes in when Giovanni Reyna drove forward and picked out Essugo, who fired over the bar. While the hosts continued to push, PSG gradually settled into the game, only to be caught cold in the 15th minute. Strasbourg won possession in the opposition half, and Yassine slipped in Reyna, who calmly broke the deadlock. From that point on, the home side retreated into a low block, leaving PSG to dominate territory but struggle for space. Strasbourg threatened again on the half-hour mark when Balde broke down the left wing and sent in a teasing cross, though none of his teammates could get on the end of it.

Strasbourg opened the second half with another sharp attack, forcing Matvey Safonov into a crucial save. Luis Enrique had seen enough by the 52nd minute and responded with a triple substitution, bringing on Vitinha, Doue, and Nuno Mendes for Beraldo, Fernandes, and Dean. The changes immediately increased the pressure on Strasbourg's defense, and Doue almost equalized following a brilliant individual run, seeing his deflected effort miss the target.

Dembele and Achraf Hakimi were soon introduced to bolster the attack. Safonov was called into action again in the 66th minute, pulling off a superb stop to deny Harder. Shortly after, the Parisians were awarded a penalty, but Dembele failed to hit the target from the spot. Moments later, Akliouche fired straight at the goalkeeper after being set up by Dembele, who had drawn three defenders. The breakthrough finally arrived in the 77th minute when the French forward carved out space on the right and delivered a pinpoint cross for the unmarked Zabarnyi to tap home the equalizer.

Five minutes from time, Dembele pounced on a poor clearance to complete the turnaround and put PSG ahead. However, the drama was far from over. Nuno Mendes was forced off with an injury, leaving the visitors down to 10 men as they had exhausted all their substitutions. Akliouche then picked up a knock, briefly reducing PSG to nine before he managed to limp back onto the pitch. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the champions sealed the points in stoppage time. Dembele held up the ball smartly in the box and fed Torres, who slid it across to Doue for an easy finish into the empty net.