PARIS (AP) — Ousmane Dembélé’s goals are drying up for Paris Saint-Germain at just the wrong moment.
PSG has a Champions League semifinal coming up against an Arsenal team brimming with confidence after eliminating 15-time champion Real Madrid in fine style.
Dembélé hasn't scored in the past three Ligue 1 games for French champion PSG and has netted only once in the past five Champions League matches. His last goal in either competition was in mid-March.
Although Dembélé did score twice in the French Cup semifinal, that was against second-tier Dunkerque and he hasn't looked at his sharpest in recent weeks.
It's a far cry from earlier in the season, when he netted two straight Ligue 1 hat tricks and scored in 10 straight games to establish himself as the team’s leading player following Kylian Mbappé’s offseason departure to Real Madrid.
France's soccer media has been speculating about Dembélé's mood since the return leg of the quarterfinal against Aston Villa.
PSG lost 3-2 after succumbing to a second-half onslaught from the English team but advanced 5-4 on aggregate. Dembélé appeared to reproach some of his teammates for easing up after leading 2-0 in the return leg to move 5-1 up overall, and there was reportedly little celebrating in the dressing room after the game.
PSG coach Luis Enrique must decide whether to start Dembélé in Friday's home game against Nice, in the hope he rediscovers his scoring touch, or keep him rested for Tuesday's encounter with Arsenal.
He may need the lightning-fast Dembélé at his skillful best against a side that limited Madrid's star-studded attack to one goal in a two-game quarterfinal series and kept Mbappé quiet.
While PSG is aiming to win the Champions League for the first time, Nice is bidding to qualify for next season's competition.
Coach Franck Haise's fifth-place team is inconsistent but remains a candidate to finish in the top three and secure an automatic place. The team in fourth place enters Champions League qualifying.
Heading into this weekend's games, Nice was two points behind Lille in fourth; three behind Monaco in third spot, and four adrift of second-place Marseille.
Nice has extra incentive to beat PSG because Lyon and Strasbourg are just behind on goal difference.
Dembélé’s mini-slump allowed Marseille forward Mason Greenwood to close the gap in the race to finish as Ligue 1's top scorer.
Dembélé leads with 21, while Greenwood has 18.
Jonathan David follows on 16 in what is expected to be his last season with Lille before joining a leading European team in the summer. The Canada striker has scored 109 goals in 228 games since joining Lille five years ago.
Marseille hosts mid-table Brest at Stade Velodrome, and Lille travels to Angers — both on Sunday.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
PSG's Ousmane Dembele, left, makes an attempt to score during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park stadium, Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Saudi warplanes have reportedly struck on Friday forces in southern Yemen backed by the United Arab Emirates, a separatist leader says.
This comes as a Saudi-led operation attempts to take over camps of the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, in the governorate of Haramout that borders Saudi Arabia.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE rose after the STC moved last month into Yemen’s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra and seized an oil-rich region. The move pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, a group aligned with the coalition in fighting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen accused the head of the STC of blocking a Saudi mediation delegation from landing in the southern city of Aden.
The STC deputy and former Hamdrmout governor, Ahmed bin Breik, said in a statement that the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces advanced toward the camps, but the separatists refused to withdraw, apparently leading to the airstrikes.
Mohamed al-Nakib, spokesperson for the STC-backed Southern Shield Forces, also known as Dera Al-Janoub, said Saudi airstrikes caused fatalities, without providing details. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim.
Al-Nakib also accused Saudi Arabia in a video on X of using “Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda militias” in a "large-scale attack " early Friday that he claimed sepratists were able to repel.
He likened the latest developments to Yemen’s 1994 civil war, “except that this time it is under the cover of Saudi aviation operations.”
Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout who was chosen Friday by Yemen's internationally recognized government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate, refuted STC claims, calling them “ridiculous” and showing intentions of escalation instead of a peaceful handover, according Okaz newspaper, which is aligned with the Saudi government.
Earlier on Friday, al-khanbashi called the current operation of retrieving seized areas “peaceful.”
“This operation is not a declaration of war and does not seek escalation,” al-Khanbashi said in a speech aired on state media. “This is a responsible pre-emptive measure to remove weapons and prevent chaos and the camps from being used to undermine the security in Hadramout,” he added.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen demands the withdrawal of STC forces from the two governorates as part of de-escalation efforts. The STC has so far refused to hand over its weapons and camps.
The coalition's spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Friday on X that Saudi-backed naval forces were deployed across the Arabian Sea to carry out inspections and combat smuggling.
In his post on X, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, said the kingdom had tried “all efforts with STC” for weeks "to stop the escalation" and to urge the separatists to leave Hadramout and Mahra, only to be faced with “continued intransigence and rejection from Aidarous al-Zubaidi," the STC head.
Al-Jaber said the latest development was not permitting the Saudi delegation's jet to land in Aden, despite having agreed on its arrival with some STC leaders to find a solution that serves “everyone and the public interest.”
Yemen’s transport ministry, aligned with STC, said Saudi Arabia imposed on Thursday requirements mandating that flights to and from Aden International Airport undergo inspection in Jeddah. The ministry expressed “shock” and denounced the decision. There was no confirmation from Saudi authorities.
ِA spokesperson with the transport ministry told the AP late Thursday that all flights from and to the UAE were suspended until Saudi Arabia reverses these reported measures.
Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war for more than a decade, with the Houthis controlling much of the northern regions, while a Saudi-UAE-backed coalition supports the internationally recognized government in the south. However, the UAE also helps the southern separatists who call for South Yemen to secede once again from Yemen. Those aligned with the council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990.
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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
Southern Yemen soldiers of Southern Transitional Council (STC) at a check point, in Aden, Yemen, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo)
