Bensebaini shows his Jekyll and Hyde side in Algeria's 3-1 win over Zambia
Borussia Dortmund star Ramy Bensebaini's 2026-27 season had begun on a sour note. Not only was he sent off in their Supercup loss to Bayern Munich, but also sustained a rib injury that forced him out for a weeks.
Upon returning, the centre-back only made two substitute appearances in the Bundesliga, clocking a meager 21 minutes across their wins over Paderborn and VfB Stuttgart.
Such a patchy sequence of play is now translating into international struggles, with Bensebaini enduring a mixed game against Zambia in their opening game of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Friday.
The Jekyll and Hyde of Bensebaini
Bensebaini's performance on the night was a curious mix of defensive authority and occasional uncertainty, higlighted by two quickfire moments wherein the 31-year-old went from a prime defender to a pantomime within seconds.
In the 22nd minute, as Zambian ace Fashion Sakala found a small opening in the Algerian defense, Bensebaini moved in quickly to slide in a challenge and close him down, denying him the opportunity to get a shot away. This was prime Bensebaini - alert, excellent game-reading, and showing his trademark defensive instincts to nip a potential danger in the bud.
But just a few seconds later, in another moment, he misjudged his tackle on Kingstone Mutandwa as the ball fell kindly to Sakala, but the Zambian forward wasted the chance by firing his effort wide in a huge let-off for Bensebaini.
Making his 86th appearance for the Desert Warriors, Bensebaini was uncharacteristically shaky on the night, particularly looking unsettled in his duels with Mutandwa, conceding two free-kicks to the Copper Bullets with two mistimed tackles on him in the first half.
His wretched spell of misfortune seemed to extend to the second half too when Sakala scored for Zambia, right through his legs. The 29-year-old slalomed his way around two Algerian defenders on the left before driving himself into a pocket of space to fire a low-drive that rolled right under Bensebaini and into the net for 1-1.
It wasn't entirely his fault though. A poor clearance out of the Algerian backline was intercepted by David Simukonda, who then squared it ahead for Sakala to do the rest. Algeria left too much gap in behind for the Al-Fayha man to exploit, and he made them pay for it.
Bensebaini goes on the offense
Perhaps ruing his tough day at office, Bensebaini got himself involved more offensively thereafter. Just four minutes after Sakala's goal, he laid a forward pass for Mohamed Amoura and set him up, but Amoura was caught offside.
Undeterred, Bensebaini picked out Amoura again a while later with another smooth long-ball from over the top which unnerved the Zambians, but the Algerian forward couldn't apply the finishing touches and the chance came to nothing.
He also won a free-kick in the Zambian half in the 77th minute after the BVB defender was brought down by Mutandwa, highlighting his physical involvement late on as Algeria sought to amp up the pressure on their visitors.
So while it didn't start off smoothly for him - besides that crucial intervention on Sakala - Bensebaini was determined to turn things around and unlocked his gritty offensive play to salvage himself with some crucial involvements in the other end.
Bensebaini and Algeria take on Burundi in their next AFCON qualifier on Tuesday, 29 September in Bujumbura.
