The unusual decision made by Marcus Thuram with a gift from Messi

Every player who participated on the field, or at least a training session, with him Lionel Messi He already has a tale to tell: he stepped on the same ground as the best footballer in the world. but, Marcus ThuramThe competitor in the 2022 Qatar World Cup final, in which Argentina It has been consecrated before FranceHe is the hero of an extraordinary story.

When the current Inter striker, Lautaro Martinez’s strike partner, was only 10 years old, he went to train at Barcelona, ​​the team where his father Lilian played and there he met Messi. At the end of the training session, all the boys present were invited to share a moment with the professional football players, a situation that will remain etched in their memories.

Marcus’s problem arose when he realized that he did not have the right shoes. Then Messi loaned him a pair of shoes. “Leo was wearing about the same size as me: I was 38 and he was 40/41. He let me go and I played and then he said ‘take them’. When I was 10, I didn’t realize what had just happened.” “It happened, so the next day I gave them to a friend. I feel sorry for it every day…”, the Frenchman admitted in an interview with DAZN.

Marcus Thuram was very close to reaching the pinnacle of world football like his 1998 world champion father, but he was one step away from the final, which France lost on penalties to Argentina. The striker, who entered the 41st minute of the first half in the crucial clash in Qatar, was very young when Lilian lifted the trophy. “When he played in the 1998 World Cup final, he was not even one year old. I understood who my father was when I was 11-12 years old, but when I see him I don’t think about what he did as a footballer: he is my father and that’s it. I comment on matches with him “He’s very demanding, but it’s better this way. Every time I leave the game happy because I scored a goal, he says, ‘Calm down, come to the car and I’ll explain some things to you…’.”

What Lilian could not explain to Marcos during that training session in Barcelona was that he had to keep these shoes because over the years they would become relics.