Lloris opens up about first meeting with Pochettino

Hugo Lloris has revealed that Mauricio Pochettino is the reason why he is still a Tottenham Hotspur player.

The French international considered departing White Hart Lane following two up and down seasons which saw both Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood be given their marching orders.

However, the goalkeeper has pinpointed his decision to stay at Tottenham as being down to Pochettino, where he was convinced that his future remained at the club the first time he met his new manager.

The Spurs skipper told the Press Association, when asked if matches like the Real Madrid clash justified his reason to stay at the club: “Yes — from the first moment I believed in Pochettino, and that’s it.

“I don’t need that [result] to say yes, I was right at the time. It was just my feeling when I met him. Now I just enjoy the football we play. Sometimes in football you live great moments, and you live some sad moments.

“But there is a great potential in the squad, a great project in our club, and I am looking forward to seeing this development. I try my best to help the team and the club to develop.”

Lloris made a point-blank save to deny compatriot Karim Benzema at 1-1, and said: “Everything came so quick. He was so close to the goal. I think he probably should have scored.

“I tried to get the most space as possible and then the ball hit me. It’s part of our job — sometimes you need luck.”

This season’s Champions League campaign has been a vast improvement on last season’s disappointment where we only managed two victories against CSKA Moscow.

“This is what I said to my teammates — don’t forget that three years ago we were still in the Europa League,” Lloris said.

“Last season we discovered as a team the Champions League, but we were very disappointed with the performances that we had.

“I think we built a strong confidence from the start of this competition with a good win against Dortmund. We confirmed that with a win in Nicosia, and you can see Dortmund drew [there] so it’s not an easy place.”