Iconic goalkeeper for Spurs between 2012 and 2023, Hugo Lloris today readily admits the loser image that Tottenham conveys. Supporting anecdote.
We have to go back to 2008 to find any trace of the last trophy won by Tottenham: the League Cup in this case. Hugo Lloris, who defended the colors of this London club from the summer of 2012 to December 2023, has therefore not won any cup with Spurs. He has just played in three finals: two in the League Cup, in 2015 and 2021; and one in Champions Leaguememorable, in 2019.
In a book entitled “Earning my Spurs”, the former captain of the Blues and 2018 world champion returns to this reputation as a loser – “loser” – that Tottenham drags like a ball, in his kingdom and beyond the borders of England. With lucidity and honesty, judging by the extract published today by the Guardian – an anecdote which had a great impact on the French goalkeeper.
President Levy's strange gift
« Four days before the C1 final (against Liverpool, editor’s note)Daniel Levy (the president of the club, editor’s note)
brought us all together to announce that, thanks to the support of a sponsor, we would each receive a luxury aviator's watch. We were initially delighted. Then we opened the boxes and discovered that he had had the player's name and the words “2019 Champions League Finalist” engraved on the back of each watch. “Finalist”? Who does such a thing at a time like this? I still haven't gotten over it, and I'm not the only one. If we had won, he would not have asked for the watches back and had “Winner” engraved on them instead… »
In the eyes of Hugo Lloris, this story says a lot about the culture of “losing” that the north London club unwittingly maintains. “ I have a lot of respect and esteem for this man and everything he has done for the club as president – I have gotten to know him – but there are things he is not all about. just not sensitive. As beautiful as the watch is, I have never worn it. I would have preferred there to be nothing on it. » And to evoke the painful memory of this Champions League final lost to the Reds (0-2): “ At the post-match reception, I had the impression that some of the people at the club and some of the players were not down enough. When I returned to my room the night of the final, I think I had the same feeling as Mauricio (Pochettino) and Harry
(Kane): does the club really want to win? Real Madrid would never have celebrated a losing final, and neither should we. »
