DOHA: Ousmane Dembele’s stoppage-time strike helped Paris St Germain snatch a dramatic 1-0 win over Monaco in the Trophee des Champions final on Sunday in Doha.
The France forward impressed from the opening moments after having two good chances saved by Philipp Kohn, but Monaco began to grow into the game, with Vanderson and Maghnes Akliouche both having opportunities to find the opener.
They then had a series of brilliant chances early in the second half, with Vanderson hitting a post and a tight contest saw both sides come close in the latter stages.
However, Dembele had the final say after finding the winner in the second minute of additional time to help PSG earn their 13th Trophee des Champions triumph.
Dembele had a chance in the opening minutes of the match, dispatching an effort from outside of the box which was blocked and he came close again, but was denied by goalkeeper Kohn.
PSG’s strong start continued when Desire Doue rattled the crossbar eight minutes in and Dembele was in the thick of the action again, forcing two important saves from Kohn in quick succession.
Monaco’s first attempt on goal came in the 26th minute when Vanderson smashed an effort over the crossbar, but PSG soon threatened again when Vitinha sliced a shot wide before having another chance saved by Kohn.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was called into action at the other end to deny Akliouche and the goalkeeper made another save just minutes later from Takumi Minamino’s effort.
PSG pushed to find the breakthrough just before half-time when Kohn saved Lee Kang-in’s shot and the midfielder had another great opportunity, but blasted the ball over the bar.
Monaco burst out of the blocks at the start of the second half when Akliouche fired an effort wide and Eliesse Ben Seghir forced a save from Donnarumma before Vanderson came incredibly close after smashing a strike off a post from a tight angle.
Marquinhos and George Ilenikhena both sent headers wide for either side and Paris St Germain had two good opportunities through Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz, before Kohn made a double save to deny Dembele and Achraf Hakimi.
A closely-fought encounter boiled down to the final minutes of the game, where Dembele capped off an impressive performance by rolling the ball into the bottom corner from Ruiz’s low pass across the face of goal.
