Football
Stephan Buczko 7y

Ousmane Dembele had 'one of his best games' for Dortmund - Tuchel

DORTMUND, Germany -- Ousmane Dembele received extra praise from coach Thomas Tuchel after his performance in Borussia Dortmund's 4-1 home win over Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday.

Tuchel, 43, told his postmatch news conference that his team had shown a "complete performance," singling out 19-year-old midfielder Dembele, who was one of the best performers at the Westfalenstadion.

Dembele was involved in all four BVB goals, scoring the third himself while playing the pass prior to the assists for Marco Reus' goal and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's brace.

"I think Ousmane Dembele played one of his best games for us today," the Dortmund coach said.

"He dealt with our possession with care in situations where a dribble would have been inappropriate against a very compact opponent. He was very aware and diligent today, he helped to defend in every minute of the game and he made the difference in those situations in which he is supposed to. It was a big step for him, a great performance."

Against Gladbach, Dembele completed 77.8 percent of his take-ons, which is a big improvement to the 49 percent he averaged in the Bundesliga across the previous 13 matchdays.

"I already said ahead of the game that he has to handle a lot of responsibility -- maybe too much responsibility, especially in the frequency he had to play for the full 90 minutes and sometimes every three days, including Champions League matches," Tuchel added.

The France international, who joined Dortmund in the summer from Ligue 1's Rennes, has racked up three league goals and five assists after 13 league matches and only five players (Julian Weigl, Roman Burki, Matthias Ginter, Aubameyang and Sokratis Papastathopoulos) have seen more minutes in all competitions.

"If you consider that Marco Reus started his first match in the Bundesliga, then you can see the weight of expectations the boy has had to carry thus far," Tuchel said.

"It lifts the pressure off them when players like Marco return with that kind of form and presence on the field and personalities like Nuri [Sahin] and Gonzalo [Castro] play around him and have the form to carry him at times. I'm extremely pleased with his development and very happy that he's a part of our team."

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