Since the arrival of Xavi Hernandez as the new head coach at Barcelona, Ousmane Dembele has looked like a completely different player.
From being a player desperate to leave, the former BVB man has extended his contract with Barca, keeping him in Catalonia for another two years.
After he committed himself to the club, Dembele has begun Barca’s pre-season campaign determined to continue his blistering form since January.
The Spanish side faced Juventus at the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday where the Frenchman proved to be the most clinical forward for the Catalans as he netted a brace for himself.
It was Dembele who broke the deadlock and opened the scoring in the 33rd minute after a dizzying run into the Bianconeri penalty area. Given his proficiency with both feet, the winger did extremely well to cut in and out before blasting his left-footed effort past a helpless Szczesny in goal.
After putting Barca ahead, Dembele also matched the quality of his goal by hitting NBA star Stephen Curry’s iconic “Night Night” celebration.
The Golden State Warriors guard first pulled out this celebration in May during a playoff series clash against Dallas Mavericks. After clinching the final points of the night, the American signalled the gesture of bedtime to the crowd, a proverbial confirmation that the Warriors’ opposition could say good night to the match.
On Tuesday night, Dembele became the first footballer to pull the move and Curry has surely taken note of it after he retweeted Barcelona’s official post featuring Dembele’s celebration and wrote – ‘A movement’.
While Curry’s celebration was meant to suggest putting his opponents to bed or signalling a job well done, Dembele could very well be demonstrating to his critics that he means business for the upcoming season and that no one should be sleeping on his football just yet.