Kylian Mbappe might have won the heartwarming gesture of the tournament award with three rounds still to play.
The France captain will lead his side out against Portugal on Friday night, lining up opposite his childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo.
In the crowd will be an unfamiliar face, that of Jean-Charles De Bono who first introduced the pair.
The story goes that Mbappe and his mother travelled to Marseille in 2009 to watch OM take on Ronaldo’s Real Madrid, and as an up-and-coming youngster, he was allowed in the tunnel to meet his hero.
Mbappe burst into tears, and taking pity on him was former OM midfielder De Bono who was working for the club’s in-house TV channel at the time.
Mbappe only remembered De Bono as ‘the man with the shaved head’ who introduced him to Ronaldo, but thankfully when mentioning him to his mother, she knew who to call.
“It’s an incredible move,” De Bono told the Marseille media. “I thought it was a hoax at first. It’s completely crazy that he could remember that, and to have done research to find me.
“Humanly, I find it extraordinary. I didn’t remember this story at all. It was when I was working for OMTV with Pape Diouf. It really shows that beyond his immense football talent, he also has a big heart.”
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