Ousmane Dembele trash talk to ex-Tottenham Hotspur man caught on camera during PSG demolition

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Ousmane Dembele launched a verbal attack against a Marseille player during PSG’s 'Le Classique' victory

PSG forward Ousmane Dembele
Dembele trash talked a Marseille player mid-match during PSG's 5-0 Le Classique win (Image credit: Getty Images)

PSG faced off against Marseille on Sunday in 'Le Classique', winning 5-0 against their rivals to remain top of Ligue 1.

Ousmane Dembele scored PSG’s opening two goals, then turned provider in the second half with an assist for Khvicha Kvaratskheila.

Dembele, the reigning Ballon d’Or champion, brought his goal involvement tally to 11 in 13 matches for the Ligue 1 title holders, who currently sit two points above Lens.

Dembele trash talks mid-match about ‘rubbish’ Marseille player

Marseille are currently fourth in the Ligue 1 table and parted ways with Roberto De Zerbi this week, after the 5-0 beating by PSG and a 3-0 defeat to Club Brugge last month.

The club also missed out on Champions League progression in January after a 98th minute header from Benfica’s goalkeeper knocked the nine-time French league champions out on goal difference.

Paris Saint-Germain's French forward Ousmane Dembele reacts after receiving the Ballon d'Or award during the 2025 Ballon d'Or France Football award ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on September 22, 2025. (Photo by Franck FIFE / AFP)

Dembele is the current holder of the Ballon d'Or (Image credit: Getty Images)

De Zerbi, who featured in FourFourTwo's best Premier League managers ever list, also oversaw Marseille’s loss on penalties to PSG in Trophee des Champions last month, in which Dembele also scored.

The 2025 Ballon d’Or winner approached ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on Sunday to trash talk one of his teammates.

“He’s rubbish… you know it! He’s always opening his mouth”, said Dembele to Hojbjerg.

The Frenchman was referring to Marseille captain Leonardo Balerdi, who ended Sunday’s game with an error leading to goal in the 5-0 loss.

According to a report from L’Equipe, leading members from Marseille’s supporter groups met to discuss the club’s precarious situation after a string of damaging losses.

Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi applauds the fans after the Seagulls' 2-2 draw against Liverpool in October 2023.

De Zerbi left Marseille this morning but Balerdi appears to have retained the captaincy (Image credit: Getty Images)

The report stated that two principal demands arose from this talk, the first being for Roberto De Zerbi to step down from his role as head coach, which materialised after the Argentinian manager reached a mutual agreement with Marseille to leave the club.

The second demand was for Balerdi to be stripped of the captaincy, after receiving heavy criticism for weeks during Marseille’s poor run of form.

Time will tell whether Marseille decide to also punish the Argentine centre-back before they return to domestic action against Strasbourg on Saturday.

Kedar Bayley
Kedar Bayley
Freelance Writer

Kedar Bayley is a trained journalist specialising in culture reporting. As a fan of Liverpool FC, he writes on the Reds often. Knowledgable about all things sports, cinema and television, you can find his words in Screen International, FourFourTwo, Manchester Evening News and more.

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