Schalke suffered late heartbreak on Wednesday night as they let a 2-1 lead slip to lose 3-2 at home to Manchester City in the Champions League.
The Bundesliga side went into the game as major underdogs, and did fall behind as Sergio Aguero gave City a 1-0 lead at the Veltins Arena.
However, City gave away two penalties before half time, and midfielder Nabil Bentaleb converted both of them to put Schalke 2-1 up.
When Nicolas Otamendi was sent off with 20 minutes to play, City looked doomed, but they produced a stunning fightback as Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling scored in the final five minutes to give City the win.
Pep Guardiola’s men are now in the box seat for a place in the last eight of the Champions League, but they were given an almighty scare last night.
A key part of that was midfielder Bentaleb, who produced a superb display even outside of his two penalties, proving himself against a Premier League side once again.
Formerly of Spurs, Bentaleb was let go by Spurs in 2016, and admitted to The Independent on Tuesday that he wishes he was still with Tottenham, even acknowledging that he was wrong in his arguments with boss Mauricio Pochettino.
The Algerian has picked a good time to talk up Spurs and Pochettino given that they need a midfielder and some homegrown players, with Bentaleb ticking both of those boxes.
On Wednesday, he showed he can still be a quality midfielder, and Spurs fans took to Twitter to urge the club to re-sign him this summer after seeing him shine against City.
Others think Bentaleb could have been ‘unreal’ under Pochettino to begin with, whilst one fan joked about former manager Tim Sherwood being right about Bentaleb being a top player all along.
Regardless of the pens, Bentaleb is a quality player. Would happily take him back at Spurs. Very gettable too.— Dominic Loosemore (@Francis_Dom) February 20, 2019
Controversy surrounding VAR took centre stage in Manchester City’s Champions League first leg tie with Schalke on Wednesday. City found themselves 2-1 down at half-time thanks to former Tottenham midfielder Nabil Bentaleb’s penalty strikes. There was.. https://t.co/4l4LE4lhQu— One Stop Sports (@oss365) February 20, 2019
Technically Bentaleb is a very good central midfielder.— Graham Harrison (@thfccoysyids) February 20, 2019
Bentaleb to replace dembele?— Sir Ledley Brenton King (@KingOfTheLane26) February 20, 2019
Oof Nabil Bentaleb. Sign him back up— Lilywhite Lucas (@LilywhiteLucas) February 20, 2019
bentaleb looks abit of a player, wonder if he is available and would fancy Spurs?— TB (@8ramon83) February 20, 2019