Two years after his acquittal for sexual offenses, Benjamin Mendy makes his Lorient debut

As a substitute for Lorient against Monaco in Ligue 1, Benjamin Mendy, who was cleared in a sex crimes trial in England in July, played his first match in two years.

The 29-year-old former Manchester City star and France international came in after 70 minutes of his new team’s 2-2 tie with Ligue 1’s top team.

Mendy entered the game with Lorient losing 2-1, but he contributed to Romain Faivre’s equalizing strike in the eighth minute of stoppage time in Brittany.

Prior to this past Sunday, he played for City against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League back in August of 2021.

A three-year legal procedure came to a close with Mendy’s acquittal two months ago.

A week after the conclusion of his trial, the former Marseille and Monaco left-back agreed to a two-year contract with Lorient.

After a six-month trial, the athlete, who would have risked a significant prison sentence if found guilty, was exonerated in January of six charges of rape and one count of sexual assault.

The retrial was required because the jury in that trial was deadlocked on two additional charges.

The claims against Mendy, whose contract with the English and European champions City terminated at the end of June, were all rejected.

Mendy has 10 international appearances under his belt and was a member of the 2018 World Cup-winning France team.

Despite the tie, Monaco is still in first place, a point ahead of the competition. Aleksandr Golovin and Folarin Balogun scored the goals.

Surprise gift Later on Sunday, Brest defeated Reims 2-1 on the road after coming from behind.

Marseille had to settle for a 0-0 draw with Toulouse at home in order to tie Monaco in points, which was met with raucous jeers from their supporters at the Velodrome.

Midway through the week, Marcelino’s Marseille team travels to Ajax in the Europa League before going to Paris Saint-Germain, who suffered their first loss under new coach Luis Enrique on Friday when they lost 3-2 at home to Nice.

In the late game on Sunday, Lyon, which is now in last position, will meet Le Havre for the first time since Laurent Blanc was sacked as coach.