Marcus Thuram takes a dig at Kylian Mbappe. (AP)
France player Marcus Thuram had a hilarious response to a journalist mistaking him for captain Kylian Mbappe, playfully calling the former Paris Saint Germain forward a “ninja turtle.”
“I’m more handsome than Kylian. I don’t look like a ninja turtle,” he said in the pre-match press conference before France’s opening match against Austria on Monday.
Mbappe, who recently completed his much-awaited move to Real Madrid earlier this month, had taken the leadership mantle from Hugo Lloris who retired last year.
Marcus Thuram after a journalist mistakenly called him Kylian: “I’m more handsome than Kylian. I don’t look like a ninja turtle!!” 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/olCxN9nJt8
— Julien Laurens (@LaurensJulien) June 15, 2024
In the same PC, Thuram also urged his fellow citizens “to fight daily” to prevent the surging nationalist far right from taking power in upcoming snap parliamentary elections in his country.
“I think the situation is sad. It’s very serious,” Thuram said. “I learned about it after (Sunday’s friendly) match against Canada. We were all shocked in the dressing room. It’s the sad reality of our society today … As Ousmane said, we must tell everyone to go and vote. We all need to fight daily so that this doesn’t happen and that the National Rally (party) does not succeed.”
Macron surprised the nation Sunday evening when he called elections for the national assembly after Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally made historic gains in the European Parliament elections. Protests were taking place in Paris and across France on Saturday amid fears that the elections will produce France’s first far-right government since World War II.
“I hope that everyone shares my opinion in the France team,” Thuram said. “I understand that some players can come here and just say people should vote, but I don’t think that’s enough, you have to also explain how we got here and the seriousness of the situation.
“There is no doubt in my mind that everyone thinks like me in the France squad.” France opens its Euro 2024 campaign against Austria on Monday. It later faces the Netherlands and Poland in Group D.
