A light-hearted moment from the French national team’s World Cup training camp has gone viral, with Michael Olise finding himself at the centre of friendly banter from his teammates.

The FC Bayern Munich forward was good-naturedly teased by Marcus Thuram of Inter Milan and Kylian Mbappé of Real Madrid during a team session at Clairefontaine.

The video, captioned “When Thuram imitates Olise. Wait for Michael’s reaction at the end,” was shared by Les Bleus’ official channel before a training session. In the clip, Olise is seated beside Mbappé near the pitch when the Real Madrid striker notices Thuram mimicking Olise’s signature pre-match routine a few metres away.

Thuram, formerly of Borussia Mönchengladbach, has a towel-like cloth—possibly a cold pack—draped over his face, an amusing nod to Olise’s own habit of keeping his face partially covered. At Bayern, Olise often appears before matches with his cap pulled low, and ahead of the Champions League semi-final first leg against PSG, he sported a scarf around his neck that covered his mouth, leaving only his eyes visible.

“Who’s that?” Thuram calls out to Mbappé while pretending to inspect the turf. Moments later, he bursts into laughter, with Mbappé quickly joining in, both finding the imitation hilarious.

While Thuram and Mbappé struggle to control their laughter, Olise responds with a resigned smile, taking the joke in good humour.

This playful exchange ties back to Olise’s reputation at Bayern, where he is known for his quick and understated pre-match pitch checks. True to his calm and introverted personality, he often conducts them with minimal fuss, his cap pulled low over his face.

When Thuram and Mbappé decided to poke fun at this routine, the FC Bayern winger simply smiled and shook his head, clearly amused but unfazed.

As for the bigger picture, Olise, Mbappé and the rest of Les Bleus are gearing up for a shot at France’s third World Cup title.

Olise, who lifted both the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal trophies with Bayern last season, is now part of the French squad preparing for the 2026 World Cup at Clairefontaine. The Ballon d’Or nominee is expected to play a crucial role in the tournament to be held across the USA, Mexico and Canada, where France are among the top favourites to add another star to their crest after their triumphs in 1998 and 2018.

France’s attacking lineup looks particularly intimidating, with Olise joining Kylian Mbappé and PSG’s Ousmane Dembélé up front. Supporting them are Marcus Thuram, PSG’s Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola, and Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki—forming a unit capable of troubling any defence in the world.

Before heading to North America, France will play two warm-up matches on home soil: against Ivory Coast in Nantes on 4 June and Northern Ireland in Lille on 8 June. The French side then kick off their World Cup campaign on 16 June against Senegal. Drawn alongside Senegal, Iraq, and Norway—who boast superstar Erling Haaland—Les Bleus find themselves in one of the tournament’s most challenging groups. Their second match will be against Iraq on 22 June, followed by Norway on 26 June.

Michael Olise: His international journey with France so far

International debut: 6 September 2024, France 1–3 Italy (Nations League)

International appearances: 15

International goals: 4

First international goal: 23 March 2025, France 7–4 Croatia (Nations League, after extra time)