Sometimes football throws up beautiful moments and so it did on Sunday for former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Nabil Bentaleb.
Many thought the France-born Algeria international's career was over last year when he was first hospitalised for an illness before it was revealed that he had suffered a cardiac arrest on June 18. Bentaleb was fitted with a defibrillator by the same heart specialist who treated his former Spurs team-mate Christian Eriksen and thus began eight months of rehabilitation with doubts over whether the player, who spent five years at Tottenham, would ever return to professional football.
The 30-year-old, who plays for his hometown club Lille, never gave up; eights month on he was cleared by the French Football Federation last week to play after a medical commission convened to assess his condition. Having returned to full training, Bentaleb was included in his first matchday squad since an Algeria World Cup qualifier in June 2024, as Lille travelled to Rennes on Sunday.
With the game heading towards a goalless conclusion, Lille boss Bruno Genesio brought on Bentaleb with 15 minutes remaining of the encounter. Just four minutes later, when a loose ball fell his way in the box from a corner, the former Spurs man fired it into the net from a tight angle to complete a dream return.
He sprinted across the pitch to the Lille dugout where he was mobbed by team-mates and coaching staff, all understanding the importance of the moment for the midfielder.
"It's worthy of a film," said Genesio. "He deserved it, because I don't believe in luck, he believed in himself. It's an incredible, wonderful story.
"At the time, I didn't see who had scored. It was only when I saw him running that I realised it was him. My staff got up. Nabil's goal put us on cloud nine, it's hard to describe. It could be a moment that will mark the end of our season, that will remain engraved in the history of the club, of this season - and in Nabil's mind, of course. It's difficult to talk about it, because it's quite improbable and incredible to imagine that it could happen like that. It's a beautiful story."
Bentaleb's team-mate Bafode Diakite added: "It was an explosion of huge emotion, you can see it. Already when he started training with us again, it was something. But for him to score the first goal that got us past Rennes, there is nothing more beautiful. Have I already experienced that? No, this goes beyond football.
"It's the story of a life, we can only be happy. We don't even know if he's going to sleep tonight, it's so huge. We're all happy for him. The supporters were also behind him, it was a kind of thank you to go see them. Nabil remains reserved. He was happy in any case."
Bentaleb's goal inspired Lille and Chuba Akpom wrapped up a 2-0 win on a day that was ultimately about far more than just the result.
Victory over Man United, talking about those fan protests & the Vicario and Maddison's triumphant returns. Click here to listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham!