# Montassar Talbi

Montassar Omar Talbi (Arabic: مُنْتَصِر عُمَر الطَّالِبِيّ; born 26 May 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 2 club Lorient. Born in France, he plays for the Tunisia national team.

## Club career

Born in France, Talbi began playing football with the youth academies of Paris FC and FC Les Lilas. His family had to move back to Tunisia, and at the age of 12 Talbi moved to the academy of Espérance de Tunis, and moved up through the youth levels. Talbi made his professional debut with ES Tunis in a 0–0 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 tie with CS Sfaxien on 2 April 2017. On 20 June 2018, Talbi signed with Çaykur Rizespor in the Turkish Süper Lig.
On 9 August 2021, he signed a four-year contract with Russian Premier League club FC Rubin Kazan.
On 18 July 2022, Talbi signed a five-year contract with Lorient in France.

## International career

Talbi is a youth international for the Tunisia 23s and made his debut in a 2–0 friendly loss to the Italy 23s on 15 October 2018. He debuted with the senior Tunisia national team in a 2–1 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification win over Equatorial Guinea on 28 March 2021.
He was later included for the squad of the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup, despite not being released by the Russian club. He reunited with the team following Rubin's 2–0 away defeat to Krylia Sovetov Samara and made his debut in the cup in the semi-finals against Egypt, which was won by Tunisia 1–0.

## Career statistics

    As of 21 May 2022
| Club | Season | League | League | League | Cup | Cup | Continental | Continental | Other | Other | Total | Total |
| Club | Season | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Espérance de Tunis | 2016–17 | Tunisian Ligue 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Espérance de Tunis | 2017–18 | Tunisian Ligue 1 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| Espérance de Tunis | Total | Total | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 32 | 1 |
| Çaykur Rizespor | 2018–19 | Süper Lig | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 5 | 1 |
| Çaykur Rizespor | 2019–20 | Süper Lig | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 29 | 0 |
| Çaykur Rizespor | 2020–21 | Süper Lig | 21 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 23 | 1 |
| Çaykur Rizespor | Total | Total | 49 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 2 |
| Rubin Kazan | 2021–22 | RPL | 25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 27 | 0 |
| Rubin Kazan | Total | Total | 25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| Lorient | 2022–23 | Ligue 1 | 38 | 1 | 3 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 41 | 1 |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 126 | 3 | 15 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 157 | 4 |
* ↑ Appearances in the CAF Champions League
* ↑ Appearances in the championship group play-offs
* ↑ Appearances in the Arab Club Champions Cup

## International goals

| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1. | 27 September 2022 | Parc des Princes, Paris, France | Brazil | 1–1 | 1–5 | Friendly |
| 2. | 20 June 2023 | 19 May 1956 Stadium, Annaba, Algeria | Algeria | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |

## Honours

Tunisia
* Kirin Cup: 2022
* FIFA Arab Cup runner-up: 2021
Espérance de Tunis
* Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 2016–17, 2017–18
* Arab Club Champions Cup: 2017
Individual
* Tunisian Footballer of the Year: 2023