"Today something happened which is unlike me and which should never happen."
Aware of having largely faulted, Marcus Thuram had done penance after his spitting on an opponent.
An unacceptable gesture which greatly tarnished his image and put an end to the fairy tale lived by the son of the world champion 98 since the start of the season.
Landed in Mönchengladbach from Guingamp in 2018, Marcus Thuram was appreciated on the other side of the Rhine for his sporting performances and was seen as a model by some for his positions.
He was one of the first footballers, last May, to put his knee on the ground and raise his fist to the sky in support of the “Black Live Matters” movement.
Then there was the skid on December 19.
Following a collision during the match against Hoffenheim (Defeat 1-2), he spits in the direction of Austrian defender Stefan Posch.
A baseness that will earn him five games of suspension and the wrath of former glories of the round ball and observers of German football.
"His action is incredibly stupid," commented Bayern Munich legend Lothar Matthäus on
Sky Sports
.
"He destroyed everything in ten seconds," plague Polo Breitner, specialist in German football for
RMC
.
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Stopped in mid-flight
Yet Marcus Thuram's 2020-21 season started off with a bang.
Before this "spit" affair, the former Sochalien occupied an important place in the game system of Marco Rose.
Author of two goals and three assists in 13 Bundesliga games, he contributed to the good form of Gladbach, still in the race for Europe at that time.
Services which did not leave Didier Deschamps insensitive.
The coach of the Blues had called on his services for the rally last November.
A first selection against Finland (defeat, 0-2) and 90 minutes of play in which the native of Parma had even stumbled on the crossbar.
A promising start in blue which suggested that Marcus Thuram could claim a place in the group for the Euro.
"I hope to gain as much experience and as quickly as possible," he said at the microphone of M6 after the meeting.
But now, the incident appeared as a turning point in the season of Thuram and that of Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Since then, the club have conceded five defeats and three draws in twelve league games.
A sad 10th place which definitely buries the hopes of regaining the Champions League for a second consecutive year.
But more than the balance sheet of residents of Borussia-Park, it is their current state of form that raises questions.
With a coach officially leaving at the end of the season, Gladbach's players have not won in the league since January 22 (4-2 against Dortmund, the future club of the German technician) and even remain on five consecutive losses in all competitions.
From spitting to redemption
It was during this meeting against the other Borussia that Marcus Thuram made his return to competition after his suspension.
More than a month after his altercation with Stefan Posch.
The now international tricolor offers a goal for his return, less than 15 minutes after coming into play. But now, in his absence, Marco Rose has opted for a different system of play.
Preferring to align an additional midfielder behind Alassane Pléa and Lars Stindl.
The results prove the Gladbach coach right since his team has a very honorable record without the 23-year-old striker: four wins in five games.
“He knows that we have won games without him in recent weeks,” commented Marco Rose before the Frenchman returned to competition.
Enough to understand that despite his international status, Marcus Thuram will not be awarded any gift.
Since then, he still enters the Gladbach rotation, but is no longer an indisputable holder of this team and has been aligned in the starting XI only five times in ten meetings in all competitions, including two in the Coupe d 'Germany.
Scorer twice during this period, Marcus Thuram will have to whip to regain the status that was his before December 19.
If he should, no doubt, have the opportunities to show himself in the field, this case could well follow him for a good part of his career.
Nothing better for him to redeem himself by showing performance on the field.
This will take place through the Gladbach match this Friday in Augbsurg (8:30 p.m.).
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