Leicester go top of Championship as Southampton stumble

BENGHAZI: Libya’s second-largest city Benghazi on Thursday opened its newly reconstructed international stadium with a high-profile ceremony featuring global football legends.
The event was attended by a packed crowd and eastern Libya’s strongman Khalifa Haftar.
It also featured appearances by former football stars including England’s Ballon d’Or-winning Michael Owen, Brazilians Roberto Carlos and Julio Cesar, and Portugal’s Luis Figo and Nani.
Belgacem Haftar, one of the strongman’s six sons and head of the North African country’s Reconstruction Fund, was also in the stands.
“The Benghazi international stadium belongs to all Libyans,” his father said, describing it as a place of unity as Libya remains a “single nation despite the challenges and difficulties.”
The oil-rich country is still grappling with the aftermath of the armed conflict and political chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled long-time dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
It remains divided between an internationally recognized Tripoli-based government in the west, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and a Haftar-backed rival administration in the east.
Without directly referencing eastern authorities, Dbeibah congratulated “Benghazi residents” on the stadium’s reopening in a statement posted on social media.
“Any addition to the country’s sports infrastructure serves Libyan interests,” he wrote.
The stadium is set to host as many as 42,000 spectators, a significant increase from its past 28,000-seat capacity, according to official figures.
For many football-loving Libyans, it also signalled a step toward normality in a city that has endured years of conflict.
Last March, under Dbeibah’s administration, Tripoli International Stadium was also reopened following two years of renovations to meet international standards.

PARIS: If Lille need further motivation in their drive to qualify for the Champions League next season, then they need only look at Nabil Bentaleb’s remarkable return.
The Lille midfielder scored four minutes after going on last Sunday in a 2-0 win at Rennes and was mobbed by his teammates.
It wasn’t that he scored so soon after going on that made the goal so special, but rather because Bentaleb started training again only this month after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest in mid-June.
The 30-year-old was put into an artificial coma and fitted with a pacemaker-defibrillator days later. Doctors doubted the Algeria international would ever play again let alone resume his career at the top level.
“It’s a story worthy of a movie. It brings Nabil even more joy and emotion because he is a boy who is very well liked in the group,” coach Bruno Genesio said. “It’s pretty rare to experience this. It’s a moment that will remain engraved in the history of the club.”

Bafodé Diakité said the atmosphere in the dressing room after last Sunday’s win was something special.
“I had never experienced anything like that,” he said. “It goes beyond football.”
Now Bentaleb and his teammates must focus on catching Monaco and Nice in the Ligue 1 race for a top-four Champions League spot.
Fifth-placed Lille are only two points behind Monaco and Nice in third, so things could change on Saturday when Lille host Monaco.
Third place is a realistic ambition for all three sides, given that unbeaten leader Paris Saint-Germain seem too far ahead and free-scoring Marseille are six points clear in second place.
Former teammates face each other
When Nice take on rock-bottom Montpellier on Sunday, former strike partners Gaëtan Laborde and Andy Delort are set to face each other amid contrasting circumstances.
Laborde has nine league goals for Nice this season, while Montpellier signed Delort on loan from Algerian side MC Alger to help in their desperate relegation battle.
Laborde and Delort enjoyed three full seasons together at Montpellier from 2018-21 and formed a strong partnership, with Laborde netting 33 league goals and Delort getting 38.
They began the next season together before both left. Their paths quickly met again when they played half of the 2022-23 season together at Nice — before Delort joined Nantes and angered Nice fans.
Timing could be right to beat PSG
PSG have not lost anywhere since Nov. 26 at Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
But Lyon will threaten that. Lyon will be fully rested after not playing in the Europa League this week. It is also resurgent after eight goals in the past two games under new coach Paulo Fonseca. PSG played on Wednesday when they trounced Brest 7-0 in the Champions League.
Rayan Cherki has found top form for Lyon in recent weeks and Fonseca has unearthed a surprising finisher.
Veteran midfielder Corentin Tolisso has scored in all three games since Fonseca took over and is enjoying his best scoring season since the 2017-18 campaign with Bayern.