Marcus Thuram’s evening against Fiorentina did more than turn Inter’s match. It placed the forward back at the centre of the season’s larger conversation, at a moment when his club needs personality and France are preparing their next selection. With Lautaro Martinez absent, Thuram carried the attacking responsibility at San Siro, scoring the equaliser in the first minute of stoppage time and then winning the penalty converted by Piotr Zielinski in the 98th minute.
It was the kind of contribution Inter have been waiting to see from him: not merely a decisive intervention, but a player willing to keep driving at defenders when the game had reached its final seconds. The comeback against Fiorentina followed another encouraging display at Bologna, and has strengthened the sense that Thuram is moving back towards his best level after a World Cup in which he had been used more as a supporting figure during Didier Deschamps’ final spell as France coach.
The next step is international. Thuram was left out of Zinedine Zidane’s first France squad, with Rennes forward Esteban Lepaul preferred instead. The omission appears to have sharpened his response. Inter coach Cristian Chivu suggested that being overlooked had given the striker an additional edge, while also pointing to the work done during their time together.
“I do not know whether the credit belongs to me or Zidane,” Chivu said after the Fiorentina victory. “Without Lautaro, he took on responsibility. I have spent three weeks with him, though he also had a week’s rest. Even in the 90th minute he was still making runs, entering the area with devastating determination. Against Fiorentina and at Bologna, when he attacks you at that speed, something can happen. We are happy because he gives us something extra. Not being selected has provided further motivation.”
Zidane has made clear that nobody has been permanently ruled out despite his satisfaction with the performances and attitude of the players called into his first group. That leaves a route open for Thuram, particularly as Lepaul has not made a major impact with France so far. The Rennes striker, last season’s leading scorer in Ligue 1, has also been held back by an ankle injury which kept him out of Rennes’ Europa League meeting with Juventus.
France will announce their new squad on 6 November, and Thuram is making his case at precisely the right time. The fixture he is especially keen not to miss is against Italy at San Siro, his Inter home, where France could secure qualification for the Nations League round of 16. For Thuram, the stadium that witnessed his late intervention against Fiorentina could soon become the setting for a more personal return to the France picture.
