Marcus - The Flight

When Marcus discovered he could fly.

Inter vs. Torino in October 2024 seemed like an ordinary match, one that Inter won relatively comfortably despite a few nervous moments along the way. Maripán’s sending-off midway through the first half, a reckless challenge with his studs catching Thuram right on the ankle, made the game much easier for Inter. And Inter scored twice in very similar fashion: crosses into the box for Thuram, who twice timed his run perfectly between the penalty spot and the six-yard box to beat Milinković-Savić with headers. For a player standing 1.92 metres tall and wearing the number nine shirt, scoring with his head should be second nature.

In his second season at Inter, however, Thuram had scored with his head just twice in his first 16 goals for the Nerazzurri. The first came against Fiorentina, while the second arrived on the opening matchday of the 2024/25 season against Genoa. Thuram would go on to work on that particular aspect of his game, which had the potential to make him even harder to stop. Tikus, as he is known among his friends and now increasingly among Inter fans too, is a riddle that is extremely difficult for any defender to solve. Give him space and he will run at you; get tight to him and he will burn you for pace. And inside the box, he can use a physique worthy of Superman.

Those were the last headed goals scored by the number nine that season. Since Cristian Chivu took over, however, things have changed: Thuram has scored no fewer than nine goals with his head, while also making different use of his physicality inside the penalty area, although part of his potential still appears to be untapped. Over the last four league campaigns, three in Nerazzurro and one in the Bundesliga, Thuram has shown remarkable consistency: 13 goals, 13 goals, 14 goals, 13 goals. The feeling is that he can still do even better, given his technical qualities. Returning to that evening against Torino, Marcus went home with a slightly bulkier bag: inside it was the match ball. He had scored three goals, after all, including a sliced finish in the second half. It was the second hat-trick of his career, following the one he scored in the German Cup in 2022, in the first round, when the aggregate score was 9-1. The feeling is that it will not be his last.