Barcelona star Ousmane Dembele says historic wins over Arsenal and Chelsea helped shape his love for the club
- Ousmane Dembele says watching Barcelona's Champions League victories over Chelsea and Arsenal was part of the inspiration behind his Nou Camp dream
- Barcelona beat Chelsea in the semi-final in 2009 and thrashed Arsenal in 2010
- Lionel Messi is the best player in history and Andres Inieista a genius, he claims
Ousmane Dembele has revealed how Arsenal and Chelsea helped shape his love for Barcelona — by getting beaten by the Spanish giants in classic Champions League encounters.
The Frenchman joined Barcelona in a deal worth a potential £138million from Borussia Dortmund this summer, and admits playing at the Nou Camp has been a dream of his since he was 11 years-old.
Dembele revealed Barcelona's Champions League semi-final win over Chelsea in 2009 and their thrashing of Arsenal in the quarter-final a season later helped sow the seeds for his eventual move.
Ousmane Dembele achieved a lifelong dream by signing for Barcelona this summer
He told Sport: 'I remember two games especially. One against Chelsea, when [Andres] Iniesta scored the goal to qualify for the Champions League final. When I see Andres now I remember it. I can't wait to tell him.
'And the other was a Champions League game against Arsenal. Barcelona had done well in the first leg but in the second leg they produced a brilliant performance, with four goals from [Lionel] Messi.
'That's when I realised Messi's not from this world. It was incredible.
'After, I tried to imitate them but it was difficult because they do things that no one does. Messi always plays at a sublime level. He's the best player in history.'
Dembele was inspired by Andres Iniesta knocking Chelsea out of the 2010 Champions League
He has fond memories of seeing Lionel Messi score four goals against Arsenal a season later
Dembele is now not only one of the most expensive players of all time, but also faces the formidable task of replacing Neymar, who left for Paris Saint-Germain this summer.
And he got off to a bad start at his own presentation, failing to produce anything like sublime skills when attempting to show of some basic keepie-uppies in front of fans.
Although his poor skill may have been attributed to nerves, the 20-year-old refuted claims that he was already feeling the pressure as he donned the Barcelona shirt for the first time.
He continued: 'I'm not scared. I am impressed. I'm focused on getting up to speed because I hadn't trained for two weeks. There's little else I can do apart from get to know how things work here and keep developing.'
"Dembele is better than Neymar" lol���� #Barca pic.twitter.com/WpvXU8UHJp
— Madridista (@Felixo1710) 28 August 2017
Dembele claims he is not intimidated by the pressure of replacing Neymar at Barcelona
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