Yahoo Sports Public speaker, maths student & Lille's latest wonderkid
"You know what football's like, it's about that one night," professed Bruno Genesio in the wake of Lille's victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League in October.
Managers usually steer clear of prophecy in press conferences, favouring phlegmatic platitudes instead, but on this occasion the French tactician was right to revel in his side's success.
For this was a seminal moment, a coming-of-age victory for more reasons than one.
Now, without context, or care given to the preceding statement, one can only speculate what Genesio meant by his words.
Was it a simple reference to the preternatural powers that seemed to permeate through the Stade Pierre-Mauroy? Did his comments serve as a rallying cry to an embattled side that had come into the fixture sitting on a sequence of just one win in six?
Each are viable conclusions, instead, his remarks alluded to the transcendent performance of teenage talent Ayyoub Bouaddi.
Billed as "probably the biggest game ever to be staged in northern France" by club president Olivier Letang prior to kick-off, the ensuing heroics felt almost predetermined, as if the script had already been written.
Bouaddi's ascension was a fitting sub-plot.
On the day he celebrated his 17th birthday, Bouaddi was tasked with marshalling the Lille midfield against the incumbent champions. A side boasting midfield riches in the form of Jude Bellingham, Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga lay in wait.
His performance, one brimming with composure and diligence, belied his tender years. But for some, no surprise should be attributed to his achievements - Bouaddi breaks the mould of traditionally talented youngsters.
No stranger to making headlines, last year, at 16 years and three days old, the Senlis native became the the youngest player to feature for the club against Faroese club KÍ in the Uefa Conference League.
In doing so, he became the youngest player ever to start a European encounter.
"It's not normal to play like that at that age," effused then manager Paulo Fonseca in the aftermath.
This season, Bouaddi's feats have been consistent with a nascent career punctuated by a succession of prodigious milestones.
Just days after his star turn against Real Madrid, Bouaddi became the second youngest player - behind Camavinga, incidentally - to register an assist in Ligue 1. A Player of the Match performance against Juventus followed weeks later. By mid-November, Bouaddi had become the third-youngest player to ever feature for the French Under-21s.
While records are there to be broken, what seems to separate Bouaddi from both his peers and predecessors is an incredible aptitude for academia.
In 2023, aged 15, he participated in a public speaking contest open to players enrolled at professional academies in France, held at the Elysee Palace.
With Brigitte Macron among the crowd, Bouaddi demonstrated the poise and unassuming authority he exhibits on the pitch to take home first place.
Furthermore, last summer, he earned top marks in the French equivalent of his A-levels, sitting them a year earlier than the rest of his 2007 cohort.
From academy managers, to grass-roots coaches, a certain truism is shared by those that have crossed Bouaddi's path during his formative years. A familiar observation occurs when many offer 'he's a kid with a good head on his shoulders'.
Bouaddi represents something of an anomaly. Prodigious talents are spawned far and wide, but Lille's number 32 boasts a level of introspection and independence of thought not often seen in someone so young.
Now undertaking a degree in mathematics, his continued pursuit of academic fulfilment hints at serious reflection.
"I wanted to carry on my studies because it allows me to make the most of my free time, and learn," said Bouaddi. "It enables me to keep my mind alert."
Maths, as he readily admits, helps him "understand the game quicker".
Chest puffed out, head perennially pirouetting on its axis, you feel Bouaddi is constantly surveying his surroundings, tracing the blueprint for how he can evade his opponents, and fashion space for his own.
While in-game savvy is a prerequisite for a central midfielder, it's the player's character that has earned him the most plaudits.
"His intelligence serves him on many levels," declared Gerald Baticle, the man that handed Bouaddi his first call up to the France Under-21s. "He strikes the right tone, maintains the correct distance."
Precocious ability is the common thread that binds the world's most promising players, but demonstrating the necessary emotional intelligence needed to assimilate so seamlessly into the diverse nature of a dressing room is highly unusual.
Shaggy-haired and languid-looking, Bouaddi appears his age, but seems to metamorphose once he crosses those white lines. His ease, grace, and sense of belonging on the pitch are at odds with the optics.
Inevitably, there are, there have been, and there will be, teething problems. He was largely at fault for both of Sturm Graz's goals in an eventual 3-2 win for Lille in their last Champions League outing before Tuesday's encounter with Liverpool.
His youthful exuberance can often morph into naivety, that boyish insouciance can occasionally mutate into overzealousness. A desire to do everything all at once is a natural predisposition for someone who has done precisely that.
But Lille is the best place for him to learn his trade. The club's philosophy is predicated on harvesting and nurturing young talent, and it's a strategy that has proved rather fruitful in recent years.
Rafael Leao, Victor Osimhen and Gabriel Magalhaes are just a few of those to have consolidated their early promise at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, while Eden Hazard and Lenny Yoro have both passed through the hallowed halls of the Domaine de Luchin - the club's famed academy.
That night against Real Madrid may have marked Bouaddi's arrival, but as his manager warned: "You have to know how to follow it up."
Arne Slot's Champions League table-toppers Liverpool represent the perfect foil.
Another standout performance at Anfield will rubber-stamp Bouaddi's meteoric rise, and justify Genesio's belief that "he'll have no problems doing just that".
