Benjamin Mendy plays in his first game in two years following his acquittal in a sex trial.

Benjamin Mendy, who was acquitted in a sex offences trial in England in July, appeared as a substitute for Lorient against Monaco in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

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

Lorient trailed 2-1 when Mendy entered the game, but the defender assisted Romain Faivre’s equalising goal in the eighth minute of stoppage time in Brittany.

His last competitive game before Sunday was in the Premier League for City against Tottenham Hotspur in August 2021.

Mendy’s acquittal two months ago brought an end to a three-year legal process.

A week after his trial concluded, the former Marseille and Monaco left-back signed a two-year contract with Lorient.

The athlete, who faced a significant prison sentence if convicted, was earlier exonerated in January of six counts of rape and one of sexual assault after a six-month trial.

The retrial was ordered after jurors in that trial were unable to reach a verdict on two more counts.

Mendy, whose contract with English and European champions City terminated at the end of June, has disputed all of the allegations levelled against him.

Mendy has ten international caps and was a member of France’s World Cup-winning squad in 2018.

Despite the draw, Monaco leads the standings by a point thanks to goals from Aleksandr Golovin and Folarin Balogun.
Brest is second after coming from behind to win 2-1 away at Reims later that day.

Marseille would have tied Monaco on points if they had won at home against Toulouse, but they were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw, which was met with harsh jeers from their fans at the Velodrome.

In midweek, Marcelino’s Marseille team travels to Ajax in the Europa League before hosting Paris Saint-Germain, who lost 3-2 at home to Nice on Friday, their first setback under new coach Luis Enrique.

Lyon will play Le Havre in the late game on Sunday, their first encounter since former Italian international Fabio Grosso took over as coach after Laurent Blanc was fired.