Benjamin Mendy played his first official match in two years

In the match of the fifth round of Ligue 1 between Lorient and Monaco, Benjamin Mendy appeared on the field.

For the French full-back, this is the first official match since August 2021. Before that, he last played 763 days ago - on August 15, 2021, in the match of the 1st round of the EPL between Tottenham and Manchester City (1:0).

We will remind that in August 2021, Mandy was accused of sexual violence against several women. The football player was charged with eight counts of rape, one count of sexual assault and attempted rape against seven women. All said episodes took place between October 2020 and August 2021, and all applicants were aged 16 or over at the time.

Manchester City have confirmed Mendy's allegations of rape and sexual harassment and suspended the player from training and working with the team until an investigation is completed. Mandy himself has pleaded not guilty to all but one count.

Immediately after the charges were brought, Mendy was taken into custody, but in January 2022 the footballer was released on bail.

On September 22, 2022, Mandy was found not guilty of one count of rape. On January 14, 2023, the player was cleared of eight charges out of ten. On July 14, 2023, the last charges against Mandy were dropped.