Nabil Fekir

After Fekir scored his second goal in the 84th minute, he took off his shirt and brandished his name and number to the Saint-Étienne supporters, who threw objects and spilled onto the field, outraged by the gesture.

Referee Clément Turpin led the players away from the field and riot police ran onto the field to restore order.

The match was stopped for 40 minutes before the two teams could play out its final five minutes in a virtually empty Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

Nabil Fekir (born 18 July 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for and captains La Liga club Real Betis.

At one point Lyon's local rivals Saint-Étienne were very keen to sign Fekir, but he held out for Lyon to sign him again in 2011.

He said "I wanted to show Lyon that they made a mistake".

An academy graduate of Lyon, he was promoted to the senior squad in July 2013.

Fekir became a first-team regular in his second season, when he was named the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year.

Fekir was included in the Lyon first team squad for the first time on 30 July 2013, remaining as an unused substitute in 1–0 home win over Grasshopper in the Champions League third qualifying round first leg.

He finally made his Lyon first team debut on 28 August 2013, replacing Yassine Benzia at half time in a 2–0 Champions League play-off round second leg away loss to Real Sociedad, which saw the club eliminated from the tournament after a 4–0 aggregate defeat.

Three days later he made his Ligue 1 debut, playing the entire match in 2–1 away defeat to Evian TG.

Fekir made a total of 17 appearances in all competitions in his first season (2013–14) with Lyon's first team, scoring one goal.

On 27 April 2014, against Bastia in a 4–1 Ligue 1 home win, he scored his first competitive goal (in the 23rd minute) for Lyon's first team and assisted one goal each for Bakary Koné and Alexandre Lacazette.

He finished the 2014–15 Ligue 1 season with 13 goals and 9 assists.

Fekir made his debut for France in March 2015 and was chosen in their squad that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Fekir joined the youth academy of Olympique Lyonnais at the age of 12, and two years later he was released for not being strong enough.

He rejoined Vaulx-en-Velin and continued his youth career at Saint-Priest, where he was tracked by scouts from across France.

During the 2014–15 season, he featured regularly for the first team and by 19 March 2015 he had scored 11 goals and assisted 7 in 25 2014–15 season Ligue 1 games, earning him his first international call up.

On 17 May 2015, he was named as the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year and earned a spot in the Team of the Year.

On 29 August 2015, Fekir scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 Ligue 1 away win at Caen.

He missed most of the 2015–16 season with torn knee ligaments.

He made 192 appearances for Les Gones, scoring 69 goals and also gaining team captaincy in 2017.

On 23 February 2017, Fekir scored a hat-trick and assisted Mouctar Diakhaby's 89th-minute goal) in the 2016–17 Europa League round of 32 second-leg 7–1 home win over AZ Alkmaar to be on the scoresheet of a UEFA Europa League or UEFA Champions League match for the first time in his career, by 23 February he had scored 10 goals and provided 10 assists in all competitions for the 2016–17 season.

In early August 2017, following the transfer of Maxime Gonalons to AS Roma a month earlier, Fekir was named captain of the club.

On 5 November, he scored two goals in a 5–0 away Ligue 1 victory over fierce rivals AS Saint-Etienne.

In 2017–18, Fekir was part of a prolific forward line alongside Memphis Depay and Mariano; he contributed 18 goals, the Dutchman contributing 19, with the Dominican Republic international totalling 18 for the team.

In June 2018, Liverpool negotiated with Lyon for the transfer of Fekir, offering a maximum €60 million.

Fekir agreed personal terms and even had his medical and did a welcome video for the fans, before the transfer collapsed due to a knee issue that appeared during the medical.

In September 2021, Fekir said that the injury story was a cover explanation, and that the move actually collapsed due to his agent.

In 2019, he transferered to Betis for an initial €19.75 million, winning the Copa del Rey in 2022.

On 22 July 2019, Fekir signed a four-year contract with Spanish club Real Betis for an initial fee of €19.75 million and €10 million in add-ons.

Lyon will receive 20% of any future sale of the player and as part of the deal, Fekir's younger brother Yassin also transferred between the two clubs.

He made his La Liga debut for Los Verdiblancos on 18 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 defeat against Real Valladolid, and scored his first goal a week later to open a 5–2 loss against Barcelona.

On 9 February 2020, against the same team, he scored in a 3–2 loss and was sent off for two yellow cards – the latter being for dissent towards the first; referee José María Sánchez Martínez was rested for the next weekend due to controversial calls affecting both sides.

He was dismissed again on 1 July just before half time in a 2–0 home loss to Villarreal CF, again for a foul and dissent.

Fekir lasted just 11 minutes on the pitch on 21 April 2021 before being sent off for a foul on Unai Vencedor in a goalless draw with Athletic Bilbao at the Estadio Benito Villamarín.

In the final game of the season on 22 May, he equalised as the team came from behind to win 3–2 at RC Celta de Vigo and cement sixth place to qualify for the Europa League.

On 4 November 2021, in a 4–0 loss at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Fekir was sent off for a confrontation with Kerem Demirbay.

After the game, Betis captain Joaquín said that his actions should not have happened because they "stain football".

He scored twice along the way as his team won the Copa del Rey, including the equaliser in a 2–1 home win over Sevilla FC in the Seville derby in the last 16 on 15 January 2022; following his goal, the match was abandoned and then continued behind closed doors the next day, as Sevilla's Joan Jordán was struck by a metal bar thrown from the crowd.