Ousmane Dembele breaks silence after PSG omission as Luis Enrique explains Arsenal decision

Ousmane Dembele has broken his silence after being axed from the Paris Saint-Germain squad to face Arsenal. The Gunners will lock horns with Luis Enrique's side at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening as they look to pick up their first win of the Champions League campaign.

Arsenal were held to a goalless draw against Atalanta on the opening week of the new-look competition, while PSG enjoyed a 1-0 win over Girona. The Parisians will be looking to pick up from where they left off and secure another three points, but they'll be without their talisman – Dembele.

The 27-year-old winger has been axed from the matchday squad to face the north Londoners due to disciplinary reasons. According to French publications RMC Sport and L’Équipe, as well as ESPN, Dembele and Enrique had an argument following PSG's clash against Stade Rennes on Friday night.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the former Barcelona boss claimed there wasn't a row. Enrique said: "I am not going to make a soap opera out of it, there was no argument between the player and me. There was a problem with the player's responsibility to the team. Nothing else."

Ahead of PSG's bout against Arsenal, Dembele broke his silence on social media with a post to his Instagram. Rather than address speculation or the upcoming Champions League clash, he posted a tribute to Antoine Griezmann, who's recently retired from international duty.

Dembele wrote: "Antoine, everyone knows the admiration and respect I have for the football player and especially the person you are! You are leaving this selection for which you gave so much and I want to personally thank you for the shared moments, titles, good humor and your unwavering dedication to this selection all these years. You deserve that legend status my dude. Good luck in the future!"

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In just a few hours, Dembele's post chalked up over 300,000 likes and nearly 1,000 comments. Ironically, the two most 'liked' replies to the tribute were from angry PSG fans, questioning the Frenchman's discipline.

"My guy dembouz slow down on the confusion with the coach please [arm flexing and laugh face emoji," wrote one user, while another added: "Why did you get confused with Enrique too? You're putting us in trouble."

Following the departures of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, PSG have been crying out for somebody to take the wheel. Dembele has stepped up to the plate this season, scoring four goals and providing four assists in just six French top-flight games.

Speaking to reporters just last month, Enrique heaped tremendous praise on the £50m-rated trickster. The Spaniard said: "We're not looking for a goal scorer, because if you put the pressure on Dembele and then he doesn't score the goals you want him to score, we'll start with the problems.

"What we want is for the team to win. Who scores? I don't care. Let someone who wears the PSG shirt score. There is no pressure on one player only. The whole team has to keep improving."

Enrique added: "We will change players depending on what we see in the games. I have a lot of versatility in my squad to be able to use that and it's an option we have on a regular basis with different players."