Hugo Lloris has credited manager Mauricio Pochettino for rescuing his career at Tottenham Hotspur.
The goalkeeper joined Spurs from Lyon in 2012 when Harry Redknapp was in charge at White Hart Lane but was left questioning his future when working under both Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood.
Lloris met with Pochettino to discuss his future at the club soon after the Argentine moved to North London from Southampton and was quickly reassured that his future should remain with Spurs.
The Frenchman enjoyed the high of lifting the World Cup last summer after captaining his side to glory in Russia and could cap a remarkable double with Spurs in the Champions League final against Liverpool on Saturday evening.
The season started off in difficult fashion for the shot stopper after he was charged with drink driving (Guardian).
He has since bounced back with some impressive displays with some impressive performances notably away to Borussia Dortmund along with a vital penalty save against Manchester City in the quarter final of the prestigious European competition.
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Lloris told ESPN FC: “It is quite simple,”
“At that time, after two years at the club, I didn’t really like the way things had turned for me here. I put a lot of questions in my mind. Then I met [Pochettino].”
“As soon as I met him, I knew straight away that he was the right man,” Lloris added. “He is the type of person that you want to work for, that you want to fight for. It is difficult to describe the feeling when you meet someone and that you know he will have a big impact on your career. It is his approach of football, his ides of football, the man who he is, how he develops relationships and ours is stronger than ever now.”
The Spurs skipper heralded the way that Pochettino has transformed the fortunes of the club over the past five years, he added: “There is no place for random in football. You get what you deserve. In the last five seasons, we have made so much effort to help the club improve, to go in the right way. Credit goes to the gaffer and his coaching staff for it. They brought the right energy and the right philosophy into the club,”
“We have all worked so much to be at this level. I can remember a few moments when Leicester won the title in 2016 and we were in the race for the title that year. You could see that things didn’t go our way.
“This season in the Champions League, it is the opposite. It doesn’t mean that we are going to win but all those things happened because we deserved it. Now, it is the biggest chance of our career to make history.”
“We had three weeks to prepare for just one game, we are not used to that,”
Lloris is keen to lift the European trophy for the first time in the club’s history and insists that the players will do everything in their power to win.
“We have used this time to refresh our minds, our bodies, to prepare our game plan and be ready to put all our chances on our side to win this final. Whoever is the opponent, it doesn’t matter. The most important is to be at the level of a Champions League final. Then, we will play the game to win. It is a big moment for the club and for the players and we just want to put a stamp on the history of the club.”
“I think Liverpool can use [last season’s final] as an experience,” he added. “It is not the case for us. In both teams, there is plenty of quality and talent. The semifinals were amazing for them and for us. Both teams deserve to be at that level in the competition. Now, we all know, the final is about emotion, desire, pain …we have to give our maximum.”
Opinion
Lloris has been a fantastic servant for Tottenham over the past seven seasons and stuck with the club while we had to endure playing in the far-flung reaches of eastern Europe in the Europa League while a man of his quality should have been playing Champions League football.
While Lloris has been guilty of high profile mistakes in key games during the past, fans will be looking to him to put in an inspired display in Madrid. Hopefully, he will be raising the Champions League trophy above his head this weekend.
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