Marcus Thuram has proved to be much more than the son of French national team legend Lillian Thuram • With great talent he leads Mönchengladbach, who will try to knock out Inter in the Champions League tonight
Toram in the center.
by himself
Photography:
IPI
Marcus Toram never enters and leaves a stadium in the same way.
Whenever he comes to the entrance he is first and foremost the son of Lillian, the historic king of performances of the French national team, and always when he comes out he is already Marcus, the great pioneer of Borussia Mönchengladbach and the French national team.
During those 90 minutes between peace and goodbye, the 23-year-old Toram undergoes a transformation.
He breaks free from his father's terror, goes out into the world, becomes a question mark to an exclamation point.
Inter, who will end their journey in the Champions League if they lose tonight to Toram and Gladbach, experienced this process firsthand last month.
When Toram entered the gates of San Siro he had to prove to the guards his identity in Google.
When he left, he was already the one who arranged a penalty for his team in a 2: 2 that complicated the Italians in the second house.
If Inter types the name of Marcus Toram in Google again today, it will reveal a lot of new details.
In the month and ten days that have passed since the previous meeting, the French striker scored a double against Real Madrid, made his French national team debut, and in the last round against Schalke broke a two-month drought without a goal in the Bundesliga.
In total, the season is two league goals, two in the Champions League and two more appearances in the world champion's uniform.
True, these are not monstrous numbers, but for Toram these are important landmarks on the road to personal independence.
"All the compliments go to Marcus," national coach Didier Deschamps clarified as he gave Gladbach's striker a debut, "he brought himself to those levels through the team and on his own."
Robert Pierce, the 1998 world champion, said: "He did not come to the team because of his father. He is a talented player and a strong guy who did not fall into his son's trap."
Constantly improving
Marcus was less than a year old when he became the son of the pair's scorer for France in the '98 World Cup semi-final against Croatia.
These were his father Lillian's only two goals on the team - which along with a record of 142 appearances in the tricolor uniform became a legend, and accordingly Marcus was the son of a legend.
Such a pedigree has destroyed quite a few talents in the past, but the father was not prepared for this to happen to his son as well.
Even when he was on the Sosho youth team, and then when he played in the senior team and in Gangan, Lillian kept his sons - Marcus and Capran who play in Nice today - and preferred to expose them as little as possible to the media so that they could develop as players on their own.
"I remember he mostly hoped Marcus would be technically better than him," Pierce recalled, and today it can be said that his hopes have come true.
Gladbach's striker is gifted with speed and breaking power, along with good ball control and composure in front of goal, and last year, in his German debut season, he scored 14 goals and netted another nine while collaborating wonderfully with Alasan Fla.
"He's constantly evolving and getting better," his coach Marco Rosa recently said, "I'm sure his dad is proud and happy."
It seems that a son of a football legend cannot escape the name and the family context.
It's bigger than him.
Marcus Toram is like that too, but only at the beginning, only when he enters.
After knowing him, they realize that he's not Lillian Toram's son, he's just another daddy's kid - like everyone else - and a piece of fun
