Ousmane Dembele after a PSG game
Ousmane Dembele has sent a message to Sunderland ahead of the Championship play-off final against Sheffield United
Paris Saint-Germain winger Ousmane Dembele has wished Sunderland good luck ahead of their Championship play-off final clash with Sheffield United at Wembley today. Dembele is friends with Black Cats owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, with the pair spotted sitting next to each other during a Championship clash with today's opponents at the Stadium of Light in March 2023.
A report in The Guardian detailed his friendship with Dembele as well as former Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi. Sunderland are gearing up for the biggest game of Louis-Dreyfus' ownership, standing 90 minutes between a return to the Premier League after eight years away.
Now Dembele, who is having a superb season with Champions League finalists PSG, has wished the Black Cats well. Commenting on a video uploaded to Sunderland's account on the social media platform Instagram, Dembele said: Good luck today! Great job this season, now time to take the final step. All the best at Wembley."
He has also shared Sunderland's video to his Instagram story, which will be seen by his 15 million followers on the platform. The Black Cats rubber-stamped their ticket to Wembley after a stunning late end to their semi-final clash with Coventry City.
Dan Ballard scored a late header to hand Regis Le Bris' side a 3-2 aggregate win in Sunderland's 48th League game of the season. Now, they go up against a Blades side who are gunning for an immediate return to the Championship through the play-offs having been in the hunt for automatic promotion almost all season.
Sunderland had also been vying for a spot in the top-two, but their form tailed off with the end of the season all about keeping up momentum for the play-offs. "We went through difficult moments," Le Bris said. "We haven't won comfortably this season.
"We've suffered and were ready for another tough game, "The ambition and desire. "After 48 games we deserve to be here. "We can talk about talent and tactics but one of the strongest qualities of this group is mindset.
"The way they are connected and how they can manage different emotion. "We deserve this fixture. "It's not always a question of age, it's a question of connection with the path. "You can be 17 and ready or 30 and have a problem to manage the emotions.
"They seem mature for that event with this togetherness. "They are strong, experienced, have good staff but these are the rules of the final. "We won't have an easy game."