Thuram: Juventus ‘can’t be scared.’ Mbappé and Dembélé ‘best in the world’

Khephren Thuram insists Juventus ‘can’t be scared’ despite recent poor results and insists Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé are the best players in the world.

Thuram joined Juventus coach Igor Tudor for a press conference at the Estadio Bernabeu in Madrid on Tuesday, on the eve of a Champions League match against Real Madrid.

Football Italia was among the accredited media.

Juventus have gone six consecutive games without victories. The last time they collected all three points was against Inter on September 13.

On Sunday, they suffered the first defeat of the season against Como.

“We spoke, we had a little meeting because I think it was important to discuss what happened. We don’t have to be scared. We have a good coach who believes in us, so we want to improve,” Thuram said.

“Responsibility is clear. We are the players, we go on the pitch. We lose and win games. I know people love to talk about the coach, but we are the players making the decisions. We have confidence in him, his plan is always very clear and we must do everything possible to win games.

“If you are scared, you don’t come to the pitch and training ground,” continued the French midfielder.

“You can’t play with fear. We believe in us, so we need to go on the pitch and win games, but we are not scared of anything.

“We know we’ll play a good team tomorrow, but we are also a good team, and we want to have the best result. Mbappé is one of the best in the world, if not the best. He’s been scoring many goals, helping the team. We all know the player he is.”

Spanish media enjoy discussions on whether Lamine Yamal or Mbappé is the best player in the world. Thuram was asked to join the conversation and his stance was very clear.

“The best player right now, I think, is Mbappé. We also have a French Ballon d’Or, Ousmane Dembélé; they are the best players.”

Thuram’s father Lilian played at the Bernabeu and his brother Marcus even scored against the Merengues. Did he speak to them?

“I didn’t speak to them. My brother knows how to score against Madrid, but I didn’t speak to them. Tomorrow we face the best team in the world, but no additional pressurem,” Khephren concluded.