Lilian Thuram showed up at the Institut Francais in South Kensington this week - and had no problem predicting which two sides would face each other in the Euro 2016 final on July 10.
Hosts France, who start their campaign tonight against Romania, will be one of the teams in the Stade de France, but Thuram with hand on heart and not just because of his immediate surrounds, predicted Roy Hodgson's England would be the other.
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The former World Cup and European Championship winner was a bit more tongue-in-cheek when he suggested Wayne Rooney would hit the bar in the final minute and France would race down the other end from the rebound to net the winner.
But Thuram , on a goodwill tour to talk about racism in football, believes England will be tough competition, but France will pull through.
He pretended to read in his crystal ball a 1-0 French victory following a last-minute counter-attack.
"Rooney will hit the frame of the goal from a corner and France will score a dramatic counter attack. We will be champions once again”, he insisted.
The ex-Juventus and Barcelona centre-back, who is France's most-capped player at 142 appearances was the subject of an audacious Fulham enquiry in the reign of Jean Tigana.
But the Whites shied away from any deal when they learned Thuram's wage demands were £100,000-a-week netto.
But it wasn't how he started.
Guadeloupe-born Thuram arrived in Paris at the age of nine, which is when he realised he was viewed in a different way.
"I became black aged nine", he insisted.
He specifically mentioned Muhammad Ali as a role model as thousands are expected to pay their last respects to the greatest heavyweight of all time ahead of his funeral in hometown Louisville, Kentucky.
"I admired him enormously," Thuram added.
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