Martin Braithwaite claims Ousmane Dembele ‘provides more for Barcelona than Robert Lewandowski’

Martin Braithwaite thinks Ousmane Dembele deserves greater recognition for his performance against Viktoria Plzen than Robert Lewandowski. 

The Catalan giants secured a 5-1 victory over Viktoria Plzen in their opening match of the Champions League, setting the tone in their group, which also consists of Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. 

New summer signing Robert Lewandowski stole the headlines by scoring a hat-trick – adding to goals from Franck Kessie and Ferran Torres for the Spanish giants in the match.

Martin Braithwaite (left) thinks Ousmane Dembele (right) deserves greater recognition

However, Braithwaite thinks Dembele deserves to be praised for his contribution during the game. He believes the ‘serial assister’ played a defining role in the Catalan’s success. 

Dembele provided two assists during the match, the first came from winning the ball back from the opposition, before playing a perfect cross onto the head of Lewandowski.

The 25-year-old then registered a second assist by playing a looping chip over the top of the defence for Torres to finish first time.

Braithwaite thinks Dembele provided more for Barcelona than his team-mate Lewandowski

Lewandowski scored a hat-trick in the Catalan’s 5-1 win over Viktoria Plzen on Wednesday

Speaking to RAC1, via Mundo Deportivo, Braithwaite said: ‘He [Dembele] makes the difference more than Lewandowski. 

‘Ousmane is a very good kid, I like him a lot. He has an enormous talent, I have never seen anything like it. Messi is something else, but I have never seen anyone like Ousmane.’ 

Barcelona manager Xavi was also full of praise for Dembele. He said that 25-year-old has the capacity to be as good as Neymar. 

Barcelona boss Xavi heaped praise on Dembele for his performance and said he is ‘capable of making the difference’

The boss also compared Dembele’s one-on-one ability to PSG superstar Neymar (pictured)

The Barca boss said: ‘He [Dembele] is happy, enjoying himself, content, he is important for me, for the group… He makes the difference, assists, scores, he is a knife and he is in a good moment.

‘I don’t want to shower him in praise but the capacity he has in the one-on-one is at the level of the best Neymar. He has to be more bold, shoot at goal more and score.

‘He is a good kid and he has to take advantage of these characteristics. He is capable of making the difference and he is doing so.’