Mönchengladbach (Germany) (AFP)

"Champion is not a taboo word" in Mönchengladbach, AFP launches AFP French striker Marcus Thuram, the new star of Borussia who caracole leading the Bundesliga and hosts Saturday Bayern Munich for a shock at the top (15:30 ).

In an interview, the son of Lilian Thuram confides on his ambitions, his dreams of team France, his relationship with his father, record holder of selections with the Blues (142), and his childhood memories with Lionel Messi in Barcelona .

Question: We know that you had contacts with several clubs, including Marseille, why Mönchengladbach?

Answer: "I felt it was the club that wanted me and who knew me best, they explained to me that they had followed me for a while, that they had seen a lot of my matches. And, in fact, it reassures you to go to a club that knows you. "

Q: "Meister" means "champion" in German. Given the excellent start to the season of your team, leader of the Bundesliga, is this a taboo word at the club?

A: "It's not a taboo word, but it's not a word we say, we have to take match after match and we'll see at the end of the season, you know, the Bundesliga ... Every weekend I watch the results of the opponents, sometimes I understand, sometimes I do not understand, it's a very open championship, each team can win every weekend. "

Q: With five goals and six assists, you're breaking the screen this season. What type of center-center are you?

A: "I define myself as an attacker who likes to create, who likes to pass, to score, an attacker who enjoys playing the offensive game of his team (...) I think that when we want to be at center of attention, it's attacking that you have to be. "

Q: Your father, world champion in 1998 with the Blues, follows your career closely. What did he transmit to you?

A: "He told me what a father, and finally a good father, tries to teach his children: respect for others, listening, working, and living a life of joy and do not worry about him, he's my dad, and even though I'm 22, he's still my daddy! (laughs) He's trying to watch my games, but it's mostly my father, he's playing his role (...) We talk about everything, football, basketball, he was a very, very great football player and he can give advice. "

Q: He is very committed to racism in football, is it a subject that also affects you?

A: "Of course, as a young black player that worries me, you have to fight and I'm very proud of what my father is doing to change things." I was not personally a victim of racism in the world. But we are witnessing on the social networks and when we watch the matches on TV. "

Q: Thanks to him, you have rubbed shoulders with huge players when you were a kid ...

A: "Yes, once, Messi gave me a pair of football boots, I saw Messi, I saw the players my father played with, for me they were people I saw every day, I did not I was not aware of it, and a friend of mine at the football, who saw him as we should see him, was obsessed with my shoes, insisted, insisted, and ended up giving him the shoes that Messi had given me. offered ... When you're a child you do not realize! "

Q: Are you also trying to get the attention of the coach Didier Deschamps, that your father knew well with the Blues?

A: "The French team for every French player is a dream and a culmination."

Q: France will start the Euro-2020 against Germany. It's a match that makes you dream?

A: "To play against Germany? No. What makes me dream is to play with the France team, and then against any team it makes me dream, Germany, Andorra, Cyprus ..."

Interviewed by Christophe BEAUDUFE.

© 2019 AFP