Five minutes. That is all Iliman Ndiaye needed to win it for Senegal against Comoros on Sunday. A winning return to international football, in a stadium he knows inside out.
The timing could hardly have been better. Ndiaye had sat out the first two rounds of 2027 AFCON qualifying through suspension, a sanction linked to the events of the 2025 AFCON final against Morocco, Foot-Africa.com notes. Back in the squad for Sunday’s friendly in Marseille, the Manchester City winger struck early, turning in Ibrahim Mbaye’s pass in the fifth minute. Nobody else found the net.
Patrick Vieira rotated heavily. Mory Diaw, Kalidou Koulibaly, Idrissa Gueye and Bara Sapoko Ndiaye were among those handed starts after not beginning either of the qualifiers. Senegal had chances to put the game away and did not take them, but the coach closes his first window with two wins and a draw.
« It’s my club and it always will be »
For Ndiaye, the venue meant something. He spent the 2023-24 season at Marseille, and speaking to La Provence he was warm about his former club: he said he takes only positives from his time there, still watches every game, and does not think his Marseille story is finished.
Should OM fans start dreaming? Not quite. Manchester City signed him on September 1 for a reported base fee of £60 million, and he has barely settled in at the Etihad. Read it as a declaration of affection rather than a come-and-get-me plea.
Reality bites quickly: City travel to Anfield to face Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, October 11.