When he left the lawn of the Lusail Stadium in Doha, hit in the thigh before half-time in Portugal-Uruguay (2-0) on November 28, Nuno Mendes could not hold back his tears.
Surrounded by his teammates, he had buried his face in his jersey as if to try to hide an immense sadness.
That of having to give up his dream of the World Cup.
At the time, the 20-year-old left-back didn't yet know he would have to give up the entire competition, but tests over the following days revealed a hamstring injury that would rule him out. for nearly two months.
Staying in Qatar for a while to encourage his friends, the Portuguese ended up returning to Paris for treatment where he finally saw the light.
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Entered for fifteen minutes during the friendly match in Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening, Mendes experienced this Monday, in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France against the Pays de Cassel (0-7), his first tenure since his injury.
This is heartening news as a daunting month of February looms for PSG, obviously marked by the knockout round of the Champions League against Bayern Munich.
He quickly found his canes
During his 45 minutes on the pitch, Nuno Mendes, replaced at the break by Juan Bernat, made a convincing copy.
Never put in difficulty on the defensive phases by a modest team of R1, too fair to do better, the former player of Sporting Portugal took the opportunity to bring the surplus as much as possible in his lane.
He was quick to find his canes while Paris dozed on the start of the match.
By his acceleration on the left concluded with a center back for Kylian Mbappé, author of a quintuplet, it was he who put Paris on the right track for the opener (0-1, 29th).
He is not far from offering another goal to Carlos Soler following a flash overflow.
Without success this time.
Failing to already have a full match in the legs, Mendes confirms that he is on the upward slope.
Something to delight Christophe Galtier who will need him in the coming weeks.
