PLAYER RATINGS | PSG 3-0 Lille: Ousmane Dembélé’s magic brace routs dogged Lille | OneFootball

Ligue 1 McDonald’s, Match 18, 16/01/2026

Paris Saint-Germain returned at least temporarily to the top of the Ligue 1 table with a comfortable 3-0 win over Lille OSC. 

The March

Within two minutes, Olivier Giroud had a chance to give Lille an early lead at the Parc des Princes. The striker chipped Lucas Chevalier, but the ball could only find the crossbar. The rebound fell to Ethan Mbappé, but he couldn’t work the ball past the keeper. 

Mbappé, shortly after, had another chance to find the back of the net when he was released past Marquinhos. However, the angle was too tight for the former PSG man, and Chevalier was provided a comfortable save. Lille had started the brighter of the two sides, but PSG would open the scoring. 

Lille worked hard to protect the central spaces, but Ousmane Dembélé was allowed a pocket of space outside the box to turn and fire a shot from distance. The ball clattered off the post and found its way home. PSG struggled to escape first gear, keeping possession, but unable to create many clear-cut chances. 

Luis Enrique looked to shake up his system at half-time, taking off Senny Mayulu for Illia Zabarnyi. The result was that PSG created sustained pressure on Lille’s final third in the opening exchanges of the second half. This pressure looked to finally be released when Nuno Mendes had the ball in the back of the net, but Dembélé was offside in the build-up. 

No matter, Dembélé would make amends in the 64th minute when he doubled PSG’s lead with a moment of magic. The Ballon d’Or winner side-stepped past the wave of Lille defenders as he looked for an angle to shoot. Finding none and swiftly surrounded by three white shirts, he decided to go over the top with a dinked shot that lobbed the defenders and chipped Berke Özer. 

PSG would make it three in injury time as Lille limped to bruising defeat after a promising start. Marius Broholm’s dreadful attempt to play out from the back was picked up by Bradley Barcola, who made light-work of the opportunity. 

PSG Player Ratings

Lucas Chevalier, 6

Nuno Mendes, 7

The standout performer in the PSG defence. Mendes was indomitable, winning duel after duel in the first half. He provided the best attacking threat for PSG outside of Dembélé. The one weakness to his game tonight was that his shooting was always a little too wayward. 

Willian Pacho, 6

Marquinhos, 6

Warren Zaïre-Emery, 5

Senny Mayulu, 4

The midfielder was given a chance in his preferred role in midfield due to the injury to João Neves. It was an opportunity that he didn’t grasp with both hands. PSG’s midfield was far from its usual fluid norm in the first half, and he was quickly sacrificed at the break. Replaced at half-time by Illia Zabarnyi. 

Vitinha, 6

Fabián Ruiz, 6

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, 4

Replaced in the 63rd minute by Bradley Barcola.

Ousmane Dembélé, 7

The striker had long stretches of this game where he was quiet. He drifted the pitch looking to open up angles for his teammates, but ultimately, it was when he was in the number nine role that he made the difference. When given an inch, he’ll take a mile. Lille did almost everything right when defending, but Dembélé is special. Replaced in the 76th minute by Gonçalo Ramos. 

Désiré Doué, 5

Replaced by Lucas Hernandez in the 84th minute. 

Lille Player Ratings

Berke Özer, 5

Despite being beaten three times. He actually didn’t do much wrong in this game (a microcosm of Lille’s defensive efforts). He perhaps took too long on the ball and invited pressure, but he was never caught out and always knew when to release the ball. He made several important saves to keep Lille in the game when it was only 1-0, and to keep the score respectable when PSG eventually made it 2-0. 

Romain Perraud, 6

Aïssa Mandi, 6

Nathan Ngoy, 4

Tiago Santos, 4

Replaced in the 87th minute by Thomas Meunier. 

Ayyoub Bouaddi, 4

Nabil Bentaleb, 5

Ngal’ayel Mukau, 5

Replaced in the 77th minute by Osame Sahraoui. 

Hákon Arnar Haraldsson, 5

Replaced in the 90th minute by Félix Correia. 

Olivier Giroud, 4

A shot off the crossbar and off the post (although this wouldn’t have counted, as the play was called back for a handball) underscores the troubles the Frenchman has had in front of goal this season. Lille missed the movement of Hamza Igamane (representing Morocco at the AFCON) as Giroud put in another performance that shows that, while he is still functional at 39, he is well past his prime and lacking a lot of cutting edge. Replaced in the 77th minute by Soriba Diaoune. 

Ethan Mbappé, 5

Last time these two teams met, Ethan Mbappé put in a super-sub performance for Les Dogues. He was given a start this time out on the right wing, where he looked as if he was going to have a brilliant evening cutting in and attacking the centre-backs. However, his incisiveness fell away after the first ten minutes, and he instead began to slow the play down when Lille looked at their best when they were flying at full speed. Replaced in the 77th minute by Marius Broholm. 

GFFN | Nick Hartland