just read an interview L’Équipe did with Aurélien’s dad, and there was loads of cute lore! Sharing some (translated) bits under the cut!
“He plays for Real but when he comes to Paris, he doesn't want to sleep in a hotel and goes to his aunt’s. He can also say to his mother: ‘I haven't seen you for two weeks, come and see me in Madrid.’ He needs this cocoon.”
“He has a mother who is a [senior education advisor] so you can imagine the strictness, no TV or video games during the week. She hid the console cable. Except that the kid had found where it was (laughs) so he played in secret. He told us about it much later. When he would hear the sound of gravel on the parking lot, he would put everything back in place.”
His home nicknames are ‘Dja’ (for Djani, his middle name) or ‘Aule’ (a nickname given by his grandmother who could not pronounce ‘Aurélien’)
“We were on vacation in Paris, I said to him: ‘I want to see you alone.’ I gave him a telling-off. And I ended up telling him: ‘You're an ordinary player! We don't talk about you. Nothing. You're not on the front page of any newspaper. You play quietly. You're going to end up in Ligue 1, right?’ Ah, it was... wow! It hurt him. He left my hotel room a little angry. The next day, he said to me: ‘You'll see.’ From January 2021, he was no longer the same. Three weeks later, he scored his first goal in Ligue 1 against Olympique de Marseille. It had touched him! He set me a message saying, ‘your ordinary player, huh!’”
“He has always had this maturity gap. You know, the kid who is at home, takes care of his brother and sister, prepares his bag two hours in advance.”
(A funny accident that happened to Aure in his youth career): “he crossed the field to get the ball that had gone out of bounds because his team was trailing 2-0 and his shorts got caught on the fence … We were doubled up. If he hears me talking about that, he’ll kill me...”
“At 6 or 7 years old, he was just proud to see his dad play [football]. Around 9 or 10 years old, he made fun of me. He often said: ‘My father played football, well, he tried!’ (laughs).”
“When I took him to football, Aurélien would sit behind, he would pepper me with questions. We would talk about the match beforehand. He would never kick off without looking at me.”
“When he was younger, he was very proud of my career and happy to explain to his friends that his father was a factory manager. I am proud of him because he is an exceptional kid, very endearing. In twenty-two years, I have not seen a single person speak badly of my son.”
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