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Finland defeated the French national
team on Wednesday night with a 2-0 score line.
Thuram was picked by Didier
Deschamps for the friendly at the Stade de France over 22 years after his dad
won the World Cup at the same ground, but despite a strong performance on the
left wing could not stop the Finns from coming out on top.
The
23-year-old hit the bar with less 15 minutes gone and soon after flashed a
difficult volley over as he and Lucas Digne caused continual problems down the
left flank for the away side.
However,
Marcus Forss stunned the home side when he collected the ball after a Moussa
Sissoko mistake and rammed home at Steve Mandanda's near post.
France
barely had any time to react before Onni Valakari doubled the away side's lead
with a stunning effort after being left to stroll towards goal.
Deschamps
brought on Antoine Griezmann, Anthony Martial and N'Golo Kante just before the
hour mark but could not break down the well-organised Finns.
The
result will disappoint Deschamps but he will likely have been happy with the
performance of Thuram, who made more of an impression than some of the more
established international players on display, including Paul Pogba and Olivier
Giroud.
He
could be in contention for World Cup holders France's upcoming Nations League
matches against European champions Portugal and Sweden.
Deschamps
said last week that the son of his old France teammate had "gone up a
level" since joining Moenchengladbach from French side Guingamp in July
2019.
Thuram
has scored three times in 11 appearances for the Bundesliga side this season
and was the first footballer in Germany to take a knee in protest following the
death of the 46-year-old African American George Floyd in police custody in
Minneapolis.
Lilian Thuram is the most-capped player in the history of the French national team with 142 appearances and as well as winning the '98 World Cup also triumphed alongside Deschamps at Euro 2000.
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