Tiago Santos Ruptures ACL and Lille Take the Le Havre Tackle to the League
Lille right-back Tiago Santos will miss the rest of the season with a ruptured ACL suffered in a tackle that went unpunished against Le Havre — and the club is considering legal action while asking the league to refer the incident to its disciplinary panel.
Published 13 Oct 20262 min read
Lille have confirmed that right-back Tiago Santos ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the 1-0 Ligue 1 win over Le Havre and will miss the rest of the season — and the club is not treating it as a normal injury bulletin. LOSC said on Monday it is considering legal action over the challenge that caused the damage and has asked the French league to refer the incident to its disciplinary panel.
The 24-year-old Portugal Under-21 international was injured in a tackle by Le Havre midfielder Amir Richardson, who was shown neither a yellow nor a red card. Lille described the challenge as "uncontrolled and dangerous" and have asked the French league and federation to explain the video review process the match officials used, suggesting the tackle justified a direct red.
The circumstances of the incident and the lack of any sanction raise serious questions for the club.— Lille club statement
A second ACL rupture for Santos
It is the second ACL injury of Santos's career. He damaged his left knee in October 2024, and this time the right knee went — a total rupture of the ligament, with French reports adding an associated meniscal lesion. He was replaced by Maxima Goffi early in the second half, and the club say a long rehabilitation follows, with no return date offered.
The row is now public
Le Havre have pushed back against Lille's framing of the tackle, publicly questioning the club's initiative and its presentation of the incident. The exchange has turned a routine medical update into an open dispute between two Ligue 1 clubs, with the league's disciplinary panel now asked to rule on a challenge the referee did not punish on the day.
What it means for Lille
The timing is brutal. Lille sit second in Ligue 1 after the win over Le Havre and travel to Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday without their first-choice right-back. Santos had started the campaign in the role, playing the full match in the opening 3-2 loss to Real Betis, and his absence leaves a hole on the right flank that manager Bruno Genesio's staff must now fill from within — or address in the winter market.
Cover image: 'Supporters LOSC - PSG Lille.jpg' via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.