French player Marcus Thuram had a hilarious response when a journalist confused him with captain Kylian Mbappé, jokingly calling the former Paris Saint Germain striker a “ninja turtle.”
“I’m more handsome than Kylian. I don’t look like a ninja turtle,” he said at the press conference ahead of France’s opening match against Austria on Monday.
Mbappé, who recently completed his long-awaited move to Real Madrid earlier this month, had taken over leadership from Hugo Lloris, who retired last year.
In the same PC, Thuram also urged his fellow citizens to “fight daily” to prevent the growing nationalist far-right from taking power in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections in his country.
“I think the situation is sad. “It’s very serious,” Thuram said. “I found out after the (Sunday friendly) game against Canada. We were all shocked in the locker room. It is the sad reality of our society today… As Ousmane said, we must tell everyone to go vote. “We must all fight daily so that this does not happen and that the National Group (party) does not succeed.”
Macron shocked the nation on Sunday night when he called elections for the national assembly after Marine Le Pen’s national anti-immigration rally made historic gains in the European Parliament elections. Protests were held in Paris and across France on Saturday amid fears that the election will produce France’s first far-right government since World War II.
“I hope everyone shares my opinion in the France team,” Thuram said. “I understand that some players can come here and simply say that people should vote, but I don’t think that’s enough, you also have to explain how we got here and the seriousness of the situation.
“I have no doubt that everyone thinks like me in the France team.” France opens its Euro 2024 campaign against Austria on Monday. They will later face the Netherlands and Poland in Group D.
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First uploaded on: 06-15-2024 at 22:45 IST
