A famous surname can be a heavy burden to bear, but Marcus and Khéphren Thuram are thriving on their own terms at two of Italy’s biggest clubs – and have nothing but admiration for their inspirational father Lilian
WORDS Chris Burke and Jérôme Vitoux | PHOTOGRAPHY Daniele Badolato
Most players going up against Lionel Messi in a World Cup final would be focused on one thing and one thing alone: how to keep the little genius quiet. Most players don’t have a France legend as a dad, however. For Marcus Thuram, running into Messi on the Lusail Stadium pitch in December 2022 was a bizarre reunion, the din of the crowd melting away as he stood face to face with his father’s old team-mate – and a man he had not seen since hanging around the Barcelona squad as a boy. Bizarre, yes… but when you’re the son of Lilian Thuram, the bizarre can tend to seem commonplace.
“I’d come on around the 40th minute and Messi was fully in his stride,” recalls Marcus, whose France team would end up losing on penalties, Argentina’s talisman having scored twice in a 3-3 draw. “At one point, during a throw-in, our eyes met. And he looked at me almost like he was thinking, ‘What are you doing here?’ Afterwards, we were able to exchange a few words, but, yeah, it must have been weird for him to have seen me so small and now to see me on the pitch facing him in a World Cup final.”
The Inter Milan forward is speaking to us along with younger brother Khéphren at the National Museum of Cinema in Turin. (Their respective favourite films? Inception and Jumper, in case you were wondering.) This is the city Khéphren has called home since joining Juventus from Nice last summer, but both have lived here previously, when it was Lilian sporting the ‘Thuram’ shirt for the Old Lady. They may have been too young to realise it at the time, but their dad spent five successful seasons with Juve ahead of his move to Barcelona – which, of course, is where an 11-year-old Marcus first got up close and personal with Messi.
“I’d left my boots at home,” says the elder Thuram sibling, remembering that meeting 16 years ago. “We looked around to see who was roughly my size, and the player whose shoe size was closest to mine was Lionel Messi. At the time, Messi was the incredible player that he was, but for me, as a child, he was just one of my dad’s team-mates who’d lent me a pair of boots to go and train with.
“So, I’m training with Messi’s boots and he says to me, ‘Yeah, you can keep them.’ I went back to my club and trained with Lionel Messi’s boots, and I was still totally disconnected from what I’d just experienced because, for me, it was very normal. It wasn’t unbelievable, but for my team-mates it was, and one of my best friends at the time went crazy when he saw the boots. I told him, ‘Listen, if you like these boots so much, keep them,’ and I gave them to him. I gave him Messi’s boots! I didn’t know!”
While Marcus has his cherished Messi memories, Khéphren experienced a similar arc with another of their dad’s old buddies, France great Thierry Henry.
“I knew him when I was little,” says the midfielder, who was given his professional debut by Henry for a Champions League game with Monaco in 2018. “When we were on the pitch, he was my coach, then when we left the pitch, he became Thierry again. When I needed help, I went to see him. He gave me advice. He’s someone who helps me a lot.”
Both brothers were born in Italy while their dad was playing for Parma, and though they now find themselves at historic rivals of the Italian game, they began by following identical paths – Khéphren matching Marcus’s route from Olympique de Neuilly to ACBB in the Paris suburbs, plus selection to attend the French National Football Institute at Clairefontaine.
From there, they started to take different steps. Marcus broke through at Sochaux and Guingamp before joining Mönchengladbach and eventually Inter in 2023, while Khéphren’s journey to Juventus unfolded via Monaco and Nice. Nevertheless, they have always kept a close eye on each other’s progress.
“I was proud he was being talked about,” says Khéphren. “It meant he was succeeding. When I was at Clairefontaine, he used to come and play with the French youth teams, and we’d go to the edge of the pitch and watch him. People would say to me, ‘Your brother’s so good!’ It was a huge thing for me.”
Marcus, meanwhile, recalls Khéphren’s professional debut. “For me, it was almost a joke. I was thinking, ‘What’s he going to do on the pitch?’ And every time, he does really well – whether it was at Monaco, with Nice or now at Juventus. Every match, he progresses. Every year, he progresses, and there are no limits.
“When I watch his games, I’m a little stressed. I’m nervous before and I hope everything will go well for him, but I think it’s like any big brother who sees his little brother grow up. It’s strange, but I will always see him as little Khéphren, even if he’s bigger than me now.”
“I will always see him as little Khéphren, even if he’s bigger than me now”
Marcus Thuram
As is no doubt abundantly clear, the pair are very close and proud of how far they have come – “a dream come true”, says Marcus – but sometimes the brotherly love has to be put on ice. That was certainly the case in January 2019, when Guingamp took on Monaco in the French League Cup, Marcus scoring Guingamp’s equaliser in a 2-2 draw before his side prevailed on penalties. “It’s a nice memory,” says Khéphren. “He scored a goal and celebrated in front of the bench. He looked at me, I remember. I was a little happy, just a little. But I didn’t show it.”
If that game sounds dramatic, go watch their Derby d’Italia meeting in October. Marcus won a penalty and provided an assist in a rollercoaster 4-4 draw, but despite that impact, the Inter ace admits he finds such encounters tricky. “Personally, I struggle with it. I want to go and talk to him, take the ball from him. I feel like it’s me against him on the pitch and there are no other players. There’s only the two of us, like we’re in our garden. Against Juventus, he started on the bench, and every time I could, I looked for him. I was looking at him and laughing. I managed to focus, but I couldn’t forget he was there.”
Perhaps the only thing which could top that would be a Champions League showdown. This is the first season both brothers have been involved in the competition – one their dad never won – and they are delighted to be back on Europe’s biggest stage. Particularly Khéphren, whose sole previous taste was a pair of Monaco cameos as a 17-year-old in 2018.
“It was something beautiful, wonderful,” he remembers. “Especially after, on the way back to the academy with all your friends when you’ve just played in the Champions League. It’s magical. You sort of think you’re someone else for a minute. To play again now and really take part in the Champions League is something else.”
Marcus, whose Champions League debut actually came two years later than his younger brother’s, with Mönchengladbach in 2020, concurs: “It’s true that scoring goals on a Tuesday or Wednesday night… When you play in the Champions League, it seems like the lights shine a bit more, the pitch is a bit more beautiful, the fans are a bit more enthusiastic. The Champions League brings a special atmosphere.”
So, how about it – Thuram vs Thuram in the Champions League final? You never know, Marcus might even ease up on the teasing with club football’s ultimate trophy at stake. “No, I can’t, I can’t,” he says, shooting that idea down with a devious smirk. “Champions League final, whatever final… If he’s on the pitch, it’s impossible. Whatever happens, I’m going to tease him. I’m going to look at him, to look for him. I can’t help it – it’s bigger than football.”
Most players going up against Lionel Messi in a World Cup final would be focused on one thing and one thing alone: how to keep the little genius quiet. Most players don’t have a France legend as a dad, however. For Marcus Thuram, running into Messi on the Lusail Stadium pitch in December 2022 was a bizarre reunion, the din of the crowd melting away as he stood face to face with his father’s old team-mate – and a man he had not seen since hanging around the Barcelona squad as a boy. Bizarre, yes… but when you’re the son of Lilian Thuram, the bizarre can tend to seem commonplace.
“I’d come on around the 40th minute and Messi was fully in his stride,” recalls Marcus, whose France team would end up losing on penalties, Argentina’s talisman having scored twice in a 3-3 draw. “At one point, during a throw-in, our eyes met. And he looked at me almost like he was thinking, ‘What are you doing here?’ Afterwards, we were able to exchange a few words, but, yeah, it must have been weird for him to have seen me so small and now to see me on the pitch facing him in a World Cup final.”
The Inter Milan forward is speaking to us along with younger brother Khéphren at the National Museum of Cinema in Turin. (Their respective favourite films? Inception and Jumper, in case you were wondering.) This is the city Khéphren has called home since joining Juventus from Nice last summer, but both have lived here previously, when it was Lilian sporting the ‘Thuram’ shirt for the Old Lady. They may have been too young to realise it at the time, but their dad spent five successful seasons with Juve ahead of his move to Barcelona – which, of course, is where an 11-year-old Marcus first got up close and personal with Messi.
“I’d left my boots at home,” says the elder Thuram sibling, remembering that meeting 16 years ago. “We looked around to see who was roughly my size, and the player whose shoe size was closest to mine was Lionel Messi. At the time, Messi was the incredible player that he was, but for me, as a child, he was just one of my dad’s team-mates who’d lent me a pair of boots to go and train with.
“So, I’m training with Messi’s boots and he says to me, ‘Yeah, you can keep them.’ I went back to my club and trained with Lionel Messi’s boots, and I was still totally disconnected from what I’d just experienced because, for me, it was very normal. It wasn’t unbelievable, but for my team-mates it was, and one of my best friends at the time went crazy when he saw the boots. I told him, ‘Listen, if you like these boots so much, keep them,’ and I gave them to him. I gave him Messi’s boots! I didn’t know!”
While Marcus has his cherished Messi memories, Khéphren experienced a similar arc with another of their dad’s old buddies, France great Thierry Henry.
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“I knew him when I was little,” says the midfielder, who was given his professional debut by Henry for a Champions League game with Monaco in 2018. “When we were on the pitch, he was my coach, then when we left the pitch, he became Thierry again. When I needed help, I went to see him. He gave me advice. He’s someone who helps me a lot.”
Both brothers were born in Italy while their dad was playing for Parma, and though they now find themselves at historic rivals of the Italian game, they began by following identical paths – Khéphren matching Marcus’s route from Olympique de Neuilly to ACBB in the Paris suburbs, plus selection to attend the French National Football Institute at Clairefontaine.
From there, they started to take different steps. Marcus broke through at Sochaux and Guingamp before joining Mönchengladbach and eventually Inter in 2023, while Khéphren’s journey to Juventus unfolded via Monaco and Nice. Nevertheless, they have always kept a close eye on each other’s progress.
“I was proud he was being talked about,” says Khéphren. “It meant he was succeeding. When I was at Clairefontaine, he used to come and play with the French youth teams, and we’d go to the edge of the pitch and watch him. People would say to me, ‘Your brother’s so good!’ It was a huge thing for me.”
Marcus, meanwhile, recalls Khéphren’s professional debut. “For me, it was almost a joke. I was thinking, ‘What’s he going to do on the pitch?’ And every time, he does really well – whether it was at Monaco, with Nice or now at Juventus. Every match, he progresses. Every year, he progresses, and there are no limits.
“When I watch his games, I’m a little stressed. I’m nervous before and I hope everything will go well for him, but I think it’s like any big brother who sees his little brother grow up. It’s strange, but I will always see him as little Khéphren, even if he’s bigger than me now.”
“I will always see him as little Khéphren, even if he’s bigger than me now”
Marcus Thuram
As is no doubt abundantly clear, the pair are very close and proud of how far they have come – “a dream come true”, says Marcus – but sometimes the brotherly love has to be put on ice. That was certainly the case in January 2019, when Guingamp took on Monaco in the French League Cup, Marcus scoring Guingamp’s equaliser in a 2-2 draw before his side prevailed on penalties. “It’s a nice memory,” says Khéphren. “He scored a goal and celebrated in front of the bench. He looked at me, I remember. I was a little happy, just a little. But I didn’t show it.”
If that game sounds dramatic, go watch their Derby d’Italia meeting in October. Marcus won a penalty and provided an assist in a rollercoaster 4-4 draw, but despite that impact, the Inter ace admits he finds such encounters tricky. “Personally, I struggle with it. I want to go and talk to him, take the ball from him. I feel like it’s me against him on the pitch and there are no other players. There’s only the two of us, like we’re in our garden. Against Juventus, he started on the bench, and every time I could, I looked for him. I was looking at him and laughing. I managed to focus, but I couldn’t forget he was there.”
Perhaps the only thing which could top that would be a Champions League showdown. This is the first season both brothers have been involved in the competition – one their dad never won – and they are delighted to be back on Europe’s biggest stage. Particularly Khéphren, whose sole previous taste was a pair of Monaco cameos as a 17-year-old in 2018.
“It was something beautiful, wonderful,” he remembers. “Especially after, on the way back to the academy with all your friends when you’ve just played in the Champions League. It’s magical. You sort of think you’re someone else for a minute. To play again now and really take part in the Champions League is something else.”
Marcus, whose Champions League debut actually came two years later than his younger brother’s, with Mönchengladbach in 2020, concurs: “It’s true that scoring goals on a Tuesday or Wednesday night… When you play in the Champions League, it seems like the lights shine a bit more, the pitch is a bit more beautiful, the fans are a bit more enthusiastic. The Champions League brings a special atmosphere.”
So, how about it – Thuram vs Thuram in the Champions League final? You never know, Marcus might even ease up on the teasing with club football’s ultimate trophy at stake. “No, I can’t, I can’t,” he says, shooting that idea down with a devious smirk. “Champions League final, whatever final… If he’s on the pitch, it’s impossible. Whatever happens, I’m going to tease him. I’m going to look at him, to look for him. I can’t help it – it’s bigger than football.”
Most players going up against Lionel Messi in a World Cup final would be focused on one thing and one thing alone: how to keep the little genius quiet. Most players don’t have a France legend as a dad, however. For Marcus Thuram, running into Messi on the Lusail Stadium pitch in December 2022 was a bizarre reunion, the din of the crowd melting away as he stood face to face with his father’s old team-mate – and a man he had not seen since hanging around the Barcelona squad as a boy. Bizarre, yes… but when you’re the son of Lilian Thuram, the bizarre can tend to seem commonplace.
“I’d come on around the 40th minute and Messi was fully in his stride,” recalls Marcus, whose France team would end up losing on penalties, Argentina’s talisman having scored twice in a 3-3 draw. “At one point, during a throw-in, our eyes met. And he looked at me almost like he was thinking, ‘What are you doing here?’ Afterwards, we were able to exchange a few words, but, yeah, it must have been weird for him to have seen me so small and now to see me on the pitch facing him in a World Cup final.”
The Inter Milan forward is speaking to us along with younger brother Khéphren at the National Museum of Cinema in Turin. (Their respective favourite films? Inception and Jumper, in case you were wondering.) This is the city Khéphren has called home since joining Juventus from Nice last summer, but both have lived here previously, when it was Lilian sporting the ‘Thuram’ shirt for the Old Lady. They may have been too young to realise it at the time, but their dad spent five successful seasons with Juve ahead of his move to Barcelona – which, of course, is where an 11-year-old Marcus first got up close and personal with Messi.
“I’d left my boots at home,” says the elder Thuram sibling, remembering that meeting 16 years ago. “We looked around to see who was roughly my size, and the player whose shoe size was closest to mine was Lionel Messi. At the time, Messi was the incredible player that he was, but for me, as a child, he was just one of my dad’s team-mates who’d lent me a pair of boots to go and train with.
“So, I’m training with Messi’s boots and he says to me, ‘Yeah, you can keep them.’ I went back to my club and trained with Lionel Messi’s boots, and I was still totally disconnected from what I’d just experienced because, for me, it was very normal. It wasn’t unbelievable, but for my team-mates it was, and one of my best friends at the time went crazy when he saw the boots. I told him, ‘Listen, if you like these boots so much, keep them,’ and I gave them to him. I gave him Messi’s boots! I didn’t know!”
While Marcus has his cherished Messi memories, Khéphren experienced a similar arc with another of their dad’s old buddies, France great Thierry Henry.
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“I knew him when I was little,” says the midfielder, who was given his professional debut by Henry for a Champions League game with Monaco in 2018. “When we were on the pitch, he was my coach, then when we left the pitch, he became Thierry again. When I needed help, I went to see him. He gave me advice. He’s someone who helps me a lot.”
Both brothers were born in Italy while their dad was playing for Parma, and though they now find themselves at historic rivals of the Italian game, they began by following identical paths – Khéphren matching Marcus’s route from Olympique de Neuilly to ACBB in the Paris suburbs, plus selection to attend the French National Football Institute at Clairefontaine.
From there, they started to take different steps. Marcus broke through at Sochaux and Guingamp before joining Mönchengladbach and eventually Inter in 2023, while Khéphren’s journey to Juventus unfolded via Monaco and Nice. Nevertheless, they have always kept a close eye on each other’s progress.
“I was proud he was being talked about,” says Khéphren. “It meant he was succeeding. When I was at Clairefontaine, he used to come and play with the French youth teams, and we’d go to the edge of the pitch and watch him. People would say to me, ‘Your brother’s so good!’ It was a huge thing for me.”
Marcus, meanwhile, recalls Khéphren’s professional debut. “For me, it was almost a joke. I was thinking, ‘What’s he going to do on the pitch?’ And every time, he does really well – whether it was at Monaco, with Nice or now at Juventus. Every match, he progresses. Every year, he progresses, and there are no limits.
“When I watch his games, I’m a little stressed. I’m nervous before and I hope everything will go well for him, but I think it’s like any big brother who sees his little brother grow up. It’s strange, but I will always see him as little Khéphren, even if he’s bigger than me now.”
“I will always see him as little Khéphren, even if he’s bigger than me now”
Marcus Thuram
As is no doubt abundantly clear, the pair are very close and proud of how far they have come – “a dream come true”, says Marcus – but sometimes the brotherly love has to be put on ice. That was certainly the case in January 2019, when Guingamp took on Monaco in the French League Cup, Marcus scoring Guingamp’s equaliser in a 2-2 draw before his side prevailed on penalties. “It’s a nice memory,” says Khéphren. “He scored a goal and celebrated in front of the bench. He looked at me, I remember. I was a little happy, just a little. But I didn’t show it.”
If that game sounds dramatic, go watch their Derby d’Italia meeting in October. Marcus won a penalty and provided an assist in a rollercoaster 4-4 draw, but despite that impact, the Inter ace admits he finds such encounters tricky. “Personally, I struggle with it. I want to go and talk to him, take the ball from him. I feel like it’s me against him on the pitch and there are no other players. There’s only the two of us, like we’re in our garden. Against Juventus, he started on the bench, and every time I could, I looked for him. I was looking at him and laughing. I managed to focus, but I couldn’t forget he was there.”
Perhaps the only thing which could top that would be a Champions League showdown. This is the first season both brothers have been involved in the competition – one their dad never won – and they are delighted to be back on Europe’s biggest stage. Particularly Khéphren, whose sole previous taste was a pair of Monaco cameos as a 17-year-old in 2018.
“It was something beautiful, wonderful,” he remembers. “Especially after, on the way back to the academy with all your friends when you’ve just played in the Champions League. It’s magical. You sort of think you’re someone else for a minute. To play again now and really take part in the Champions League is something else.”
Marcus, whose Champions League debut actually came two years later than his younger brother’s, with Mönchengladbach in 2020, concurs: “It’s true that scoring goals on a Tuesday or Wednesday night… When you play in the Champions League, it seems like the lights shine a bit more, the pitch is a bit more beautiful, the fans are a bit more enthusiastic. The Champions League brings a special atmosphere.”
So, how about it – Thuram vs Thuram in the Champions League final? You never know, Marcus might even ease up on the teasing with club football’s ultimate trophy at stake. “No, I can’t, I can’t,” he says, shooting that idea down with a devious smirk. “Champions League final, whatever final… If he’s on the pitch, it’s impossible. Whatever happens, I’m going to tease him. I’m going to look at him, to look for him. I can’t help it – it’s bigger than football.”
Lilian Thuram chose his sons names very deliberately – Marcus’s being inspired by Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey and Khéphren a reference to an Egyptian pharaoh.
“He explained the name to me when I was very young,” says Marcus. “I understood that this name held meaning for him, and the more I grew up, the more I understood his fight against racism and injustice in the world. I also knew about Khéphren’s name from when I was very young. I don’t know if he told you?”
“Why he gave me that name?” asks Khéphren, immediately curious. “I just knew he was a pharaoh, I knew what that meant, but I don’t know exactly why he called me that.”
“Because Egypt was one of the first Black civilisations to become powerful in the world.”
“Oh, that’s why? I swear I didn’t know, but it’s beautiful.”
It’s a touching moment between two siblings who obviously revere their dad, though Khéphren needs no lessons on Lilian’s anti-racism stance. “What he expresses is quite powerful, and he’s right too. He’s spoken to us about it since we were little and helped us understand the importance of these values, and I have a big brother who shares them as well. So, I want to be the same – I want to help people understand the importance.”
Interview
What’s in a name?
Lilian Thuram chose his sons names very deliberately – Marcus’s being inspired by Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey and Khéphren a reference to an Egyptian pharaoh.
“He explained the name to me when I was very young,” says Marcus. “I understood that this name held meaning for him, and the more I grew up, the more I understood his fight against racism and injustice in the world. I also knew about Khéphren’s name from when I was very young. I don’t know if he told you?”
“Why he gave me that name?” asks Khéphren, immediately curious. “I just knew he was a pharaoh, I knew what that meant, but I don’t know exactly why he called me that.”
“Because Egypt was one of the first Black civilisations to become powerful in the world.”
“Oh, that’s why? I swear I didn’t know, but it’s beautiful.”
It’s a touching moment between two siblings who obviously revere their dad, though Khéphren needs no lessons on Lilian’s anti-racism stance. “What he expresses is quite powerful, and he’s right too. He’s spoken to us about it since we were little and helped us understand the importance of these values, and I have a big brother who shares them as well. So, I want to be the same – I want to help people understand the importance.”
Interview
What’s in a name?
Lilian Thuram chose his sons names very deliberately – Marcus’s being inspired by Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey and Khéphren a reference to an Egyptian pharaoh.
“He explained the name to me when I was very young,” says Marcus. “I understood that this name held meaning for him, and the more I grew up, the more I understood his fight against racism and injustice in the world. I also knew about Khéphren’s name from when I was very young. I don’t know if he told you?”
“Why he gave me that name?” asks Khéphren, immediately curious. “I just knew he was a pharaoh, I knew what that meant, but I don’t know exactly why he called me that.”
“Because Egypt was one of the first Black civilisations to become powerful in the world.”
“Oh, that’s why? I swear I didn’t know, but it’s beautiful.”
It’s a touching moment between two siblings who obviously revere their dad, though Khéphren needs no lessons on Lilian’s anti-racism stance. “What he expresses is quite powerful, and he’s right too. He’s spoken to us about it since we were little and helped us understand the importance of these values, and I have a big brother who shares them as well. So, I want to be the same – I want to help people understand the importance.”
