Tottenham star Hugo Lloris divides opinion ahead of World Cup final…

French fans celebrate reaching World Cup final

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Impeccable or an Achilles heel? For over a decade Hugo Lloris has divided opinion in the Premier League. However, nobody will be able to argue with his achievements in the game if he becomes the first captain ever to lift back-to-back World Cups.

On Sunday night he will win his 145th cap for les Bleus having passed Lilian Thuram’s previous national record in the quarter-final game against England.

It also seemed to mark a sea-change in the Tottenham goalkeeper’s resolve after the French press in the build-up made much of one solitary misguided article in an English newspaper which described Lloris as the weak point in the team.

“I don’t have any message for their media,” he said after making a string of saves to help knock Gareth Southgate’s side out of the competition.

“I prefer to do my talking on the pitch. We don’t need any extra motivation.”

In the following game against Morocco, where France booked their place in the final, Lloris’s performance was described as “Impeccable” by French newspaper l’Equipe.

But regular Premier League watchers know Lloris can be guilty of the odd howler and even produced one on the World Cup final stage.

Thankfully, France were already 4-1 to the good against Croatia when the 32-year-old tried to dribble around Mario Mandzukic only for the striker to poke the ball past him into the empty net.

“We all try to prepare for the game as well as we can,” Lloris has said. “We all know that the focus is very important but in football anything can happen on the pitch, either to me or my team-mates.

“The important thing is how you react afterwards. You have to stick with it until the end of the game.

“When you are on the pitch you just want to try to enjoy your football and try to produce the best performance that you can. The only focus is to win.”

That philosophy will be tested to the full on Sunday against Lionel Messi, a man who will see this final in the Lusail Stadium as his own date with destiny.

“Argentina are a really great team – they have shown how competitive they are, and they have this player who has left his mark on the sport,” Lloris said.

“There is everything in place for it to be a great game, but we will try to turn things our way,”

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