Lille's Nabil Bentaleb scores four minutes into return from cardiac arrest
Algeria international Nabil Bentaleb returned to football with French club Lille on Sunday after suffering a cardiac arrest in the summer— and scored within four minutes.
Bentaleb collapsed in June during a game of five-a-side football, according to media reports in France. He had to be put into an artificial coma at Lille University Hospital.
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The 30-year-old, who previously had spells with English Premier League teams Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, was given permission to play again in January by the French Football Federation's medical commission.
The midfielder returned to training, initially with just a physical trainer and then subsequently with his team-mates, and Lille confirmed on Wednesday that he could return to competitive football ahead of the club's trip to Rennes on Sunday.
Bentaleb was introduced as a 76th-minute substitute and scored just four minutes later, turning in from close range after Chuba Akpom's header had been saved to put Lille 1-0 up. Akpom added a second in the 86th minute as Lille went on to win the match 2-0.
'It's worthy of a movie,' said Lille head coach Bruno Genesio in his post-match press conference. 'Obviously the victory was important after last week's poor performance. But what's more, in these conditions, it gives even more joy, for Nabil (Bentaleb) as for the other players.
'He deserved it, because I don't believe in luck, he believed in himself. It's an incredible, wonderful story.
'Nabil's goal put us on cloud nine, it's difficult to describe. This can be a moment which will mark our end of the season, which will remain engraved in the history of the club.'
The win moved Lille up to 5th in the Ligue 1 table.
Bentaleb, a native of Lille who spent time at the club's academy as a youngster before joining them permanently in 2023, has also played for German club Schalke and has 52 caps for Algeria, playing in the 2014 World Cup.
The midfielder revealed in a press conference on Friday that he had spoken with Christian Eriksen, his former team-mate at Tottenham who had also collapsed after a cardiac arrest, for advice on how to handle his own return to action.
(Jean-Francois Monier/AFP via Getty Images)
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