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Dembele comes of age for Barca in Messi absence

The French forward gave his best performance yet in a comprehensive win at Malaga as the Argentine missed out due to the birth of his third son

Ousmane Dembele needed a night like this. In what has been a spectacular season for Barcelona, particularly in La Liga, the €105 million summer signing had been something of a disappointment. But on Saturday, he came of age.

Barca came into this match unbeaten in 27 games in the Primera Division in 2017-18 and had not lost at all in the league since last April against Malaga at La Rosaleda – a defeat that seriously harmed their hopes of winning the title in Luis Enrique's last season.