Football’s Lazarus story.
You have to hand it to Abou Diaby, he gets an A for persistence.
The former Arsenal midfielder has waited more than 18 months to start a game and his efforts finally paid off today when the former France international was named in the Marseille side to take on Bastia.
It’s Diaby’s first league start since March 2013, while his last first-team start for the Gunners came in a League Cup game in September 2014.
.@AbouVDIABY is today named in a starting XI for the first time since March 2013 ! #SCBOM pic.twitter.com/7kFUIE3Klk
— Olympique de Marseille 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@OM_English) April 3, 2016
Diaby has become well known for the litany of injuries which limited him to 125 appearances in nine years at Arsenal, which included serious knee, hamstring and ankle problems.
Diaby was released by Arsenal last summer and joined Marseille, but his bad luck continued, with lingering calf problems delaying his debut for the Ligue 1 side.
The 29-year-old was finally give the all clear and came off the bench to play 13 minutes against Rennes before the international break.
He’s been the butt of plenty of jokes over the years, but it’s hard not to wish Diaby good health from this point forward, hopeless as that goal might be.
