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Louise Thomas
Editor
Ousmane Dembele will miss Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League trip to Arsenal after being left out of Luis Enrique’s squad for the fixture after reportedly falling out with the Spanish manager.
Dembele allegedly clashed with Enrique in the wake of PSG’s Ligue 1 win over Rennes on Friday after the French forward had been substituted during the 3-1 win.
The 27-year-old had been in fine early-season form in the French capital, scoring four times in six league games to help fill the void left by Kylian Mbappe after his compatriot’s departure for Real Madrid.
He had started PSG’s opener in the revamped Champions League, a 1-0 win over Girona.
Arsenal host the French champions at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night after they began their continental campaign with a draw against Atalanta in Bergamo.
Mikel Arteta was a teammate of Enrique’s during his early playing days coming through the academy set-up at Barcelona, and hailed his qualities.
“I’m a huge admirer of him,” Arteta said of Enrique, who guided Barcelona to Champions League triumph in 2015. “He has an unbelievable personality, huge character, huge energy, always very supportive with young players. What I love about him is wherever he’s been, as a player or a manager, his fingerprints are all over the place.
“PSG are exceptional and they dominate every phase of play. They have a very clear intention of how they want to dominate the game through the ball and when they don’t have it, they want it straight back. They are really aggressive with it and they confront you.
“The group stage is a bit different this season and the opposition we are going to face tomorrow is probably at the highest level that you can face in European football. But it’s a good opportunity for us to see how we deal with these nights, how prepared we are and how we can impose ourselves in this kind of context.”
