How Mohamed Salah and Ousmane Dembele compare ahead of Paris Saint-Germain v Liverpool UEFA Champions League showdown
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Published 04/03/2025 at 15:51 GMT
Liverpool travel to Paris to face PSG in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 with a place in the quarter-finals at stake. The tie will see two of Europe's in-form players squaring off as the Reds' Mohamed Salah looks to continue his brilliant season while Ousmane Dembele aims to continue his recent resurgence in Paris.
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The UEFA Champions League round of 16 has thrown up a blockbuster tie as Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool lock horns over two legs.
With The Reds dominating in the Premier League, they face a tough challenge in their quest for a seventh European title against the equally high-flying PSG, who sit atop Ligue 1.
Both teams will be looking to their talismanic frontmen to make a difference over two legs, with Mohamed Salah and Ousmane Dembele both in the middle of generational seasons for their respective clubs.
At the age of 32, Salah is showing little sign of easing up as he propels Liverpool to more glory and finds himself in the kind of form that has him arguably favourite for this year’s Ballon d’Or award.
Across the Channel, Dembele is putting an indifferent six-year spell at Barcelona behind him and appears finally to be finding the form that saw him tipped for mega-stardom as a teenager at Borussia Dortmund.
Ahead of the first leg at the Parc des Princes – live on TNT Sports and discovery+ – we compare how the two have performed ahead of their mouth-watering showdown.
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Total goals
Dembele is having his best scoring season, not just at PSG, but of his entire career, with 25 goals to date in all competitions.
The forward has already obliterated his previous best total of 13 in 2018/19 with Barcelona and has actually hit double figures for the first time since 2020/21 – also at Barca.
"Ousmane is in a huge moment of confidence and he's now like the PlayStation with the light above him," said his manager Luis Enrique after his two goals against Stade Brestois in the play-off round.
Salah has scored 30 times in all competitions so far for The Reds – a milestone he has reached five times in his eight seasons at Anfield.
Although he is currently some way behind his incredible debut season where he scored 44, he certainly looks set to surpass his second-highest tally of 31, which he twice reached in 2020/21 and 2021/22 respectively.
Total assists
What makes Salah’s overall display so remarkable this year is that he is not just scoring but also providing for team-mates, having racked up 22 assists in all competitions so far.
His previous best total was 16 back in 22/23.
"So far, I think this is my best season because I make the players around me better as well. That’s what I feel. I know their games," Salah said in an exclusive interview with TNT Sports.
"All the numbers around all the players are going to be higher than other seasons. Plus, my assists are higher, which means I’m really helping them a lot."
Dembele has six total assists this campaign in all competitions. He previously registered 20 assists overall for Dortmund in 2016/17, his best total to date.
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Highlights: Dembele stars as PSG grab big lead over Brest in first leg
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League goals
With 25 league goals, Salah is five ahead of closest challenger Erling Haaland this season and, with 10 games remaining, is in pole position to win the Premier League golden boot for a record-equalling fourth time alongside Thierry Henry.
He is currently seven goals shy of the 32 he scored in the league in 2017/18 – his all-time best.
"What he's done in the Premier League, he stands on the shoulders with all the giants," said TNT Sports pundit Joe Cole on Salah’s achievements in the league.
"There's been a lot of debate this week, your Henrys, your Cantonas, your Agueros, Gerrards – he's standing shoulder-to-shoulder with them and in the conversation."
Dembele leads the way in the Ligue 1 scoring charts this season with 18, three ahead of his nearest challenger in the race for what would be his first award as top goalscorer in the division.
After five goals in his first 13 league matches, since December, he has found the target 13 times in his last nine.
You would have to go back to his time at Rennes to find a more productive season in front of goal when he scored 12 in the 2015/16 campaign.
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League assists
Of Salah’s 22 assists so far, 17 have come in the Premier League, seven more than Bukayo Saka’s 10 and three shy of the all-time record of 20 held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.
"You cannot rule him out for any special award – this guy is exceptional." commented Arsene Wenger following Salah's match-winning display against Manchester City recently.
Dembele has provided five assists in Ligue 1 this season. In the past, he has twice topped out at 13 league assists, registering these totals for Dortmund in the Bundesliga in 2016/17 and for Barcelona in La Liga during 2021/22.
Champions League goals
Dembele has six goals, making this his best scoring season in the competition, but again highlighting his uptick in form since the autumn, with all coming since the turn of the year.
He scored his first in the competition in the stunning 4-2 comeback win over Manchester City, before a hat-trick against Stuttgart in PSG’s final league phase match and a brace in the first leg of his side’s play-off against compatriots Stade Brestois.
"In Dembele, they've got probably the most in-form player, let alone winger, in European football," said Joe Cole following the Brest match. "And when he's on form, with his attributes, he's unstoppable,"
Salah’s three strikes in the competition so far have come against Bologna, Girona and Lille.
His previous best in the competition was 10 back in that remarkable 2017/18 campaign.
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Champions League assists
Dembele’s sole assist this season came against Atletico Madrid in PSG’s 2-1 league phase defeat, whereas his previous best season was back in his Dortmund days, where he claimed five assists for the German side.
Salah’s four Champions League assists this season match his best year – naturally 2017/18 again – with the Egyptian looking to better that total either against PSG, or beyond, this time around.
How to watch PSG v Liverpool?
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PSG host Liverpool at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, March 5.
Kick-off is at 20:00 UK time on TNT Sports 1, with live coverage beginning at 19:00.
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