The Lille midfielder decided the match against Rennes: “For me it is a special moment, I went from everything to nothing”
The best possible end possible for a true nightmare story. 252 days of absence are infinite, but now Nabil Shateb He really came back and did it in just four minutes. The midfielder of Lilleagain on the pitch eight months after the cardiac arrest immediately and the defibrillator installed in the heart, decided the race of Ligue 1 against the Rennes (then ended 2-0 for Los Dogues). Taken to the 76th minute on the score of 0-0, Sorteab took 240 seconds to return to the goal. A simple network, in tap-in under the doorafter the short rejection of Lucas Chevalier on Chuba Akpom’s header. But a wonderful network that closes and reopens the circle of life. The Algerian did not score a goal in official races from April 30, 2023, in a Rennes-Angers 4-2. Even then the network had arrived in the same stadium last night, the Roazhon Park of the Rennes. Another no small coincidence.
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Thursday the resumption of training, now the first goal with the team of the heart
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Four minutes to return to mark, after the four days passed by the first post-infarction training. Only on Thursdays this was resumed to participate in a technical session with the team. The network scored last night is of fundamental importance, given that it allows Lille to remain attached to the qualification train in Champions League. But it is an even sweeter marking, beyond all history, because it also coincides with The first goal of this goal in the Lille shirtthe team of the city where he was born in 1994. “I scored my first goal with Lille. I played all over the season before the illness and I did not marry. He had to go like this. It’s incredible: These are images that will remain impressed in our mind for life. There are things that we will not forget, that we will miss emotionally when we stop playing football, “he explained to the end of the game. The Algerian midfielder is also The first professional athlete to return to the field in France after a similar illness And especially after undergoing an operation, complete with an installed pacemaker.
C’est too much émotions
The happy outburst of the Algerian: “I went from nothing to everything”
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This, who at the end of the match with Rennes received the best in the field, then told all the emotions accumulated in the previous eight long and infernal months. “It’s a rather special moment for me, I went from nothing to everything: I was in the stands to look at my friends without knowing if I would have been part of this adventure and, from one day to the next, the green light has come to return to play. When you are in the stands it is easy to speak, but we know that the situation is completely different on the field. I have worked hard in recent months to recover. Today I didn’t know if I would enter but I felt I would have scored“. Then the inevitable thought for the family, who first suffered for him and then helped him in the second half: “It was a long time since I viewed this moment. But the most important thing is my health. I thought about my familyto my older brother, to my agents who are like brothers and who have supported me throughout my career in the ups and downs, to my wife, my children, to my parents, to my sisters. It is this very narrow circle that has allowed me to resist during these last months and to be able to dream of returning to a football field“.
Also the coach of Lille, Bruno Genesiofocused on the happy event: “Nabil is a very, much loved boy in the group. He deserved to live these moments. He resisted, believed in himself, believed in people who took care of him. This is truly an incredible story. We are all happy to live it. And I think football is a fantastic sport for this type of emotions. ” Rethinking at the time of this goal of this goal, Genesio admitted: “To tell the truth, at that moment I did not see who had marked. When I saw him run I realized it was him. I was in seventh heaven. These are difficult things to describe, they are strong emotions for everyone. It could also be a moment that will mark our season, which will remain impressed in our season, in the history of the club, in the mind of all those who participated in the match tonight“.
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