Victim of an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his left knee in the match against Angers on November 1, the Nice captain hurdled another barrier in his rehab on Tuesday.

"Dante has taken his first stes on the pitch, he ran. That's another barrier hurdled," said a delighted Adrian Ursea, before adding that the Brazilian is "far from being back playing, but is within the timeframe set with the medical staff."

"He's doing well everything he needs to do. He's there morning and afternoon and he's working like a madman in order to come back," explained the Nice coach, who is following his player's rehab very closely: "With the training infrastructure that we have today, the injured players don't feel like they're left to one side. That's important for them to feel like they're still part of the squad. Even if they can't follow the same training programme as their team-mates, they continue to see everybody. That's absolutely necessary."

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