the return to favor of the Bilal Nadir phenomenon!

Sunday evening, Olympique de Marseille took a walk on their lawn against Le Havre (5-1). Faced with an amorphous HAC, the Phocaeans did not need to exert their talent to achieve a big victory. A great success which also allowed Roberto De Zerbi to reassure himself about the quality of the players at his disposal. In the midfield, the Italian technician notably wanted to give playing time to Bilal Nadir. Seriously injured in his cruciate ligaments on January 22, the native of Nice missed almost a year of competition before making his return to the Olympian group on November 23 during a victory in Lens (1-3).

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A liberating first goal

A liberation for the 21-year-old who has gained physical strength since then. Having a profile appreciated by Roberto De Zerbi, the Moroccan midfielder, extended last March, had a card to play with OM and knew that he could quickly take a place in the Olympian eleven in the event of good performances, and this, despite the successful performances of Adrien Rabiot, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Valentin Rongier. This Sunday, RDZ also wanted to give him a chance by starting him against Le Havre. A taut pole that Nadir knew how to grasp perfectly. Confident of his qualities in his slightest catches of the ball, the former OGC Nice was invaluable in recovery.

In addition to his physical and defensive qualities, Bilal Nadir was able to show appreciable technical quality and a personality which allowed him to score a nice goal to complete his great performance (39th). Warned just before the break, Nadir however gave way to Ismaël Koné upon returning from the locker room. However, the one who was credited with a 6.5 by the FM editorial team did not fail to relish his return to competition at the final whistle. “It was important to win this match to maintain our second place and then move on, we were able to do the job this evening, I am obviously very happy with my first goal in the colors of OM this evening, I thank the collective and the coach for everything”declared in particular the person concerned in a mixed zone.

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After the ordeal, Nadir aims for the summits

Relaunched on his performance, OM number 26 also took the opportunity to look back on his painful period. “I have difficulty externalizing things but I was very happy with my goal, it's a liberation, I experienced complicated moments especially last year so it's a source of pride, it's a lot of work but obviously a lot of pride. Communion with the players really pleases me, the players were there for me and especially during my injury, they checked on me and when I returned they were also there so that’s really nice”. The young Marseille native also took advantage of his presence in front of journalists to discuss his integration into the collective now led by Roberto De Zerbi.

“I did everything to match his ideas of play and integrate myself into this collective, this start this evening (Sunday, editor's note) for me it is also a reward for the work that I have done, I think to have been rewarded and to have given satisfaction this evening. I have done everything to get involved in the team, I am ready, whether it is to start, play 90 minutes, 5 minutes or not to play, I always feel ready and the most beautiful thing is that I am back in the group and that I enjoy playing football”. More motivated than ever, Nadir also returned to his premature exit. The opportunity for him to reassure the people of Marseille.

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“My exit? We spoke with the coach, it comes from the yellow card but I also come from a lot of moments where I had physical problems so it was in management too but no worries”. Very happy with his first goal with OM, the native of Nice finally concluded his speech by returning to the big competition present within the Marseille squad. “Everyone works well on a daily basis, it's the coach's choices afterwards but the competition is healthy, especially with Ismaël Koné who replaced me, I'm happy for him, I didn't expect to play as much but I'm going to do everything to continue playing”. And to conclude: “it’s a successful match, we got this goal at the end which puts a small task. Are OM going strong? It's up to us to show it in the next matches but I think that today, we are in the place we deserve.. And Bilal Nadir fully intends to ride this positive spiral.