France keeper Hugo Lloris on facing 'special' Lionel Messi in World Cup final

France captain Hugo Lloris says it will take ‘all our strength’ to stop Lionel Messi and Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final on Sunday.

Reigning champions France progressed have a chance to become the first nation in 60 years to win back-to-back World Cups, after they defeated Morocco 2-0 in Wednesday night’s semi-final.

Goalkeeper Lloris and his defenders had to work overtime to keep out their spirited opposition but they will now face an even tougher test against an Argentina side that demolished Croatia 3-0 in the other semi-final.

Messi has been in sensational form in Qatar, co-leading both the goals and assists tables, and many believe it is the legendary forward’s destiny to finally win the World Cup.

Having played against Messi five times in his career before, with Lyon, Tottenham and France, and failing to win or keep a clean sheet on each occasion, Lloris fully understands the threat the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner possesses.

‘I think it’s going to be a big game, a big final with two big nations of football and obviously Argentina is very, very competitive,’ the Spurs skipper told ITV.

‘They showed their strength throughout all the competition, and they also have one special player in Lionel Messi.

‘But I think at the moment we need to recover well from this battle and prepare the next step in the best way. It’s the last step that’s the most difficult.

‘We need all our strength, all our energy and we need to enjoy the moment because it’s already a big success but the last step is always the most difficult.’

France’s clean sheet against Morocco was their first of the tournament with Les Bleus side looking very leaky at the back throughout the tournament, and given how closely fought the semi-final was, Lloris and co. have been thanking their lucky stars that the African side didn’t put two or three past them.

The 35-year-old keeper added: ‘It was a difficult night to be honest.

‘I think we started the game perfectly. It was the plan to try and score very early but then we missed a few opportunities in the first-half to score the second one and kill the game.

‘They [Morocco] stay in the game and to be honest they performed very well in the second-half. We played too deep and we conceded too much action in our camp but we stay strong.

‘We weathered the storm, we scored the second goal and the feeling was much different. As we expected it was a big battle and we need to give a lot of credit to the Moroccan team.

‘They showed they’re not only a team that defends. They know how to play, how to attack and they have a lot of talented players.’

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