'Incredible story' as Bentaleb nets for Lille on return from heart attack

The win allowed Lille to reclaim fifth place in Ligue 1 that Lyon had briefly grabbed earlier in the day by thrashing last-placed Montpellier. Nice won 3-1 at struggling Le Havre to climb back into the top three. Nabil Bentaleb, a 30-year-old Algerian international midfielder, suffered a heart attack last June.

He has since been fitted with a defibrillator, club sources told 'AFP'. The French Football Federation medical commission cleared him to play on Wednesday. He returned to the pitch after 76 minutes on Sunday night, four minutes after the hosts had been reduced to 10 men when Christopher Wooh was sent off.

Lille had bombarded Brice Samba in the Rennes goal, who had also saved a weak first-half penalty by Chuba Akpom. But four minutes after coming on Bentaleb broke the deadlock, running in at the far post to poke home the rebound after another Samba save. Bentaleb galloped to the sideline pointing to the coaching staff before jumping into their arms. Akpom slid home a second six minutes later.

 

February 16, 2025

'Terrible times'

"It's really an incredible story and we're all happy to experience it," said Lille coach Bruno Genesio. "He hung on, he believed in himself, he believed in the people who took care of him. There were periods where we all wondered if he was going to play again or not. As time went by, we all had more and more confidence in him and in his ability to play again. Obviously, it was already a real victory for him, because he went through terrible times."

On a day when all five away teams won, Nice regained the final guaranteed Champions with a 1-3 victory in Le Havre through goals from Gaetan Laborde, Etienne Youte Kinkoue, who turned into his own net, and Sofiane Diop. Yassine Kechta got one back for the hosts. Monaco hammered Nantes 7-1 on Saturday while Lyon took revenge for a home defeat earlier in the season with a 4-1 win at Montpellier. 

Strasbourg rose to seventh as they won 2-0 against 10-man Lens. The visitors exploited their advantage with an 81st-minute goal by Dilane Bakwa and a second, in the 96th minute, by Emmanuel Emegha. Farid El Melali scored the only goal as Angers won 1-0 at Reims. On Saturday, Fabian Ruiz scored the only goal as PSG edged out Toulouse 1-0 to stay 10 points clear at the top of the table from Marseille, who thrashed Saint-Etienne 5-1.

 

February 16, 2025