Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembélé’s frustrating season continued when he came off with an apparent injury during the first half of the Champions League play-off against Monaco on Tuesday.
Désiré Doué came on for Dembélé, scored twice and played a part in the other goal as PSG took a 3-2 lead into the return leg next Wednesday in Paris.
Dembélé was doubtful for the game because of a leg problem and came off in the 26th minute at Stade Louis II. The Ballon d’Or winner has been hampered by injuries this season. PSG was trailing 2-0 at the time but rallied to be level 2-2 by halftime.
Dembélé was injured early in the season when playing for France and then came off in the first half in similar circumstances against Bayern Munich in November.
Doué pulled a goal back for PSG two minutes later with a low shot into the bottom right corner. Doué cupped his hands over his ears when he celebrated as if to say he was blocking out recent criticism of his performances.
“The coach makes his choices. It’s always a collective effort whether we win or lose,” Doué said. “The most important thing is to win in this kind of game.”
Doué was involved in PSG’s equalizer close to halftime when his shot was pushed away by goalkeeper Philipp Köhn. The ball came straight to right back Achraf Hakimi inside the penalty area and he beat Köhn with a low shot into the bottom left.
Doué grabbed his second of the night in the 67th when he collected a pass from Warren Zaïre-Emery on the edge of the penalty area and guided a low shot into the right corner.
Köhn had made a good save to stop Vitinha’s penalty in the 22nd and Monaco midfielder Aleksandr Golovin was sent off for a clumsy foul on Vitinha early in the first half.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s one-nil victory over Benfica was interrupted for several minutes after Vinicius Júnior accused an opponent of racially insulting him.
French referee François Letexier stopped the match in the 52nd minute, just after Vinícius had given Madrid a 1-0 lead in the first leg.
Benfica players were not happy with Vinicius because he celebrated by dancing in front of the corner flag, and some went to confront him, including Argentine player Gianluca Prestianni.
Prestianni was complaining to Vinicius while covering his mouth with his jersey, and then the Brazil forward suddenly pointed to him and ran toward the referee.
Cameras picked up Vinicius telling Letexier that Prestianni called him “monkey.” The referee immediately stopped the match.
Both coaches, Benfica’s José Mourinho and Madrid’s Álvaro Arbeloa, talked to Vinicius at one point.
The referee appeared to show that he did not hear anything and gestured that Prestianni had the shirt over his mouth.
The Argentine player was not shown a yellow card and continued playing.
Elsewhere, striker Serhou Guirassy scored one goal and created another as hosts Borussia Dortmund claimed a 2-0 victory over Italian visitors Atalanta, while the early clash of Galatasaray and Juventus went the way of the Turkish club on a 5-2 scoreline.
Trailing 2-1 at halftime in the playoff match at RAMS Park, the Turkish giant powered back after the break. Noa Lang scored two of Galatasaray’s four second-half goals to stun two-time European champion Juve.
