A step to his left; Another push to his left, a pause, a swing of his left foot and just like that, Ousmane Dembele scored the World Cup’s most frictionless hat-trick. It took him just three shots for three goals and only 32 minutes were on the clock when he hit his third. It was all about the match-ups with his strike partner Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. But Dembele, as minimalistic in his expressions as his movements, gave a gentle reminder in Norway’s 4-1 defeat that the Ballon d’Or is safely tucked away on his shelf.
He might not have the aura of Mbappe or the hype of Haaland; The 29-year-old was a late bloomer who had barely bloomed; While no one disputes his ridiculous ability, managers in the past have been too scared to handle him. He is bipedal, cunning, agile and inventive; He presses intensely, his off-the-ball output is incredible. His long, and sometimes frustrating, maturation period had made him have second thoughts. The man after Mbappe; The man behind Khvicha Kvaratshelia with PSG.
But Dembele is his own man for both club and country. At least for the last three years. He reduced the match to Usman’s Friday Evening Show, although Norway, without Erling Haaland for much of the evening, could have been a tighter contest had they converted a penalty in the second half. Ifs and buts, there was nothing in Dembele’s display of thrilling artistry.
You don’t need a slow-motion replay to appreciate Dembele, as everything unfolds unflinchingly. The ball lands at his feet, he waits, he steps forward, he backs away, he turns left, he turns right, as if it’s an elaborate hypnotic trick to calm the men around him. Then without any burst of explosive speed, without any vicious contortion of his body, he swings his leg, as sweet a strike as can be. Wind-up is negligible, follow-through is stiff. Just a solid snap of his damn ankle. And often without breaking a sweat or getting the ball dirty, the ball goes where it wants.
On June 26, 2026, in Foxboro, Mass., near Boston. Ousmane Dembele, right, of France celebrates with teammates Kylian Mbappe, center, and others after scoring his side’s third goal during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Norway and France here. (AP Photo/Martin Messner)
All three of his goals were constructed with surreal minimalism and dazzling clarity. See first. He receives a diagonal ball from Mbappe, moves forward, goes past Fredrik Andre Bjorkn, stops, scans the area, stabilizes his balance and slides the ball past goalkeeper Egil Selvik. In its flight, the ball appeared to be free of poison. But Selvik’s flailing hands made it too late to block the ball. The whole sequence took just four seconds, but Dembele has the ability to stretch time, making four seconds equal forty. He is the antithesis of Mbappe, whose supersonic moves are better appreciated in slow-motion replays.
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The second goal was unclear. By cutting into the box from the right, he teased defenders by turning the ball sideways, then stopping, standing on the ball, and then rinsing and repeating the same movements until he was in the right place to curve the ball into the net. The celebration was brief and mild, as if averse to public display of joy. “That’s the way I am, I don’t celebrate too much, I don’t express too much anger. That’s the way I grew up,” he once told L’Equipe.
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He was raised by his single mother in the suburb of Everrex, a rough neighborhood of La Madeleine. Her mother had fled Mauritania, one of the poorest countries and the last to abolish slavery. She married a man from Mali and settled in Vernon on the Seine River. But soon after Dembele was born, her husband left her and she had to raise all the children on her own. “Football was an escape for me. I used to play it from noon to night. Otherwise, you would be pulled into all kinds of activities there,” he said in a documentary called Usmanez.
His journey from dirt roads to fame was swift. By 18, he had progressed from Rennes to Borussia Dortmund, a factory of rough diamonds. But notoriety was building. He was late for practice. He refused to sit on the bench. He was not lured into a life of glamor and extravagance, but simply felt alienated. “I just wanted to go home and be the same kid again. The training, the pressure and the media, I was feeling a bit worn out.”
But these qualities were too great to ignore, and the year he turned 20, Barcelona spent 145 million euros to sign him. It turned out to be the worst phase of his career, as he struggled with repeated injuries and form. His career was almost forgotten before Luis Enrique revived it at PSG. In his second year, he was both the Champions League winner and the Ballon d’Or.
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Placing him in a central role helped, but more than that he found love in Paris. “That’s the coach,” he would say. Enrique would react: “The thing is, you have to go deep to get the best version of Osmane.” The Spaniards found the keys to unlock Dembele’s gifts. Like Didier Deschamps, who once made him famous for being late.
But the past is behind him. He slotted him back on the right as Mbappe’s wingman. On Friday, he left Mbappe and several defenders in his vapor trail and scored the strangest hat-trick of the World Cup. Anywhere. And he reminded him in whose house the Ballon d’Or is safe.