Ousmane Dembele may have reached the last two World Cup finals with France (and won one of them), scored the winner against Atletico Madrid at the weekend, been moved around Europe for over EUR160m in transfer fees across his career and have his coach at Barcelona coach telling anyone who’ll listen how remarkable his talent is … but there’s already so much the erratic winger could learn from his rival in Thursday’s Spanish Supercopa semifinal.
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Luiz Henrique Andre Rosa da Silva hasn’t won anything, just turned 22, moved to Real Betis for a modest EUR8m initial transfer fee, didn’t get picked to be part of Brazil‘s World Cup squad in Qatar and can’t yet speak Spanish very well, but his remarkable skill set is complemented by a voracious appetite to learn, develop and to eradicate mistakes from his game. It’s arguably the very attitude Dembele seems to lack.
Whether the two wingers go face-to-face for the first time this week, when Barcelona and Betis compete to face either Real Madrid or Valencia in the Supercopa final, is up to their respective coaches: Xavi and Manuel Pellegrini. Barca and Betis face a heavy load of LaLiga matches — they are first and fourth respectively in the table — plus Copa Del Rey knockout ties next midweek (Barcelona go to third-division Ceuta, while holders Betis are at home to Osasuna), and they both have ambitions to win the Europa League. (The Catalans play Manchester United in February in the round of 32, while Betis qualified directly to the round of 16.)
Luiz Henrique is still a raw prospect at Real Betis, but his willingness to learn and work on his flaws has made him a breakout star heading into the second half of the season. Danilo Di Giovanni/Getty Images
There will be times when elusive, match-winning talents like Luiz Henrique and Dembele will be rested in order to be at their most explosive when the crunch matches come along, but this is a semifinal (played in Saudi Arabia) with the whiff of a trophy in the air — the grand final is on Sunday — and seven-figure sums on offer based on reaching that final or, indeed, lifting the trophy.
Watch Spanish Super Cup live games, highlights on E+ (US Only)Wednesday, 2 p.m. ET: Real Madrid vs. ValenciaThursday, 2 p.m. ET: Real Betis vs. BarcelonaSunday, 2 p.m. ET: Supercopa final
In all likelihood, Betis will field Luiz Henrique and ask him to try to torment Jordi Alba, while Xavi will almost certainly deploy Dembele on his preferred wing, the right, to attack either Alex Moreno or Copa-winning goal scorer Juan Miranda. But whether these two immensely talented, lightning-fast wingers, each of whom scored the winning goal for their respective teams on Sunday, start the semifinal or not won’t make a jot of difference to the basic point here.
Luiz Henrique’s absurdly fast adaptation not only to LaLiga, but to the demands placed on him by Real Betis and his coach, Manuel Pellegrini, should serve as a morality tale for Dembele. The Barca man is capable of genuinely outrageous moments on the pitch, but the fact that his direct opponent never knows what Dembele is going to do is matched by the very clear evidence that neither, it seems, does Dembele himself.
Dembele took time to settle in LaLiga and is still prone to making the same old mistakes. But he, like Luiz Henrique, could play a big part in how Thursday’s Supercopa semifinal plays out. Mateo Villalba/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images
Some cynics might argue that most of the time, everyone knows precisely what Dembele is going to do: over-run a dribble, gift the ball to an opponent instead of a well-placed teammate or fail to control the easiest pass sent right to his feet. Then, when you doubt him most, the 25-year-old will tie a defender in knots, burst into a remarkable sprint, and erupt a shot into the top corner.
Xavi believes in him evangelically, as does France coach Didier Deschamps, who started Dembele in every World Cup match except for the Tunisia defeat. Those clubs who could have secured his services when he was available as a free transfer last summer evidently didn’t believe as strongly as those two coaches do.
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TUESDAY, JAN. 10 (all times ET)o Man United vs. Charlton (3 p.m.)o Newcastle vs. Leicester (3 p.m.)
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 11 (all times ET)o Forest vs. Wolves (3 p.m.)o Southampton vs. Man City (3 p.m.)o Real Madrid vs. Valencia (1:30 p.m.)
THURSDAY, JAN. 12 (all times ET)o Real Betis vs. Barcelona (1:30 p.m.)
Dembele has made some progress: he’s picking up fewer injuries, has a dependable grasp of Spanish and is racking up more goal assists. But the percentage of times when he does the right thing effectively, whether that be a simple or complicated task, isn’t on the rise, and that’s where the negative comparison with Betis’ thrilling summer purchase comes in.
There are direct similarities that are immediately evident. Luiz Henrique has the same, perhaps even greater, pace on the ball once he sets off on a run. He’s got an equally powerful strike, although off his right foot rather than both feet like Dembele, and that was shown by the sublime winner he smashed in against Rayo at Vallecas during Betis’ 2-1 win a couple of days ago.