Hugo Lloris says he can't make a fool of himself and rattle opponent players like Argentina goalkeeper Emi Martinez
Former France captain Hugo Lloris has claimed that he would never make a fool of himself on the pitch like Emiliano Martinez did in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final. He claims that the Argentine crossed the line in rattling his opponents, but that is not a path the Tottenham Hotspur man would follow.
Martinez saved a crucial penalty of Kingsley Coman in the shoot-out at the FIFA World Cup final. He also had his mind games get the better of Aurélien Tchouaméni, who put his effort wide as Argentina eventually beat France to lift the trophy.
Lloris, however, claimed he was never going to do anything extraordinary to win the hoot-outs. Speaking to L'Equipe after announcing his retirement from international football on January 9, he said:
"There are some things I can't do. Making a fool of myself in goal, rattling my opponent and crossing the line. I just can't do that. I'm too rational and honest a man to go that way. I don't know how to win like that, although I didn't really want to lose like that either."
Lloris refused to comment on Martinez's celebrations and said:
"He has been judged enough for that, no need to add anything more. During the shoot-out, he used every trick in the books to destabilise us."
Hugo Lloris's terrible penalty shoot-out record for France
Hugo Lloris won the FIFA World Cup in 2018 with France but has a terrible record with shout-outs. He has not saved a single penalty in his last nine shoot-outs, and that will remain on his record.
Speaking about the shoot-outs, Lloris added:
"That hasn't prevented me from stopping important penalties. I've won some shoot-outs, but I lost a lot of them. You can analyse every Argentina striker, think of their three options to shoot (left, middle, right) and look at their 50 past attempts, some data is also to be taken into account."
He added:
"All the Argentina strikers take penalties at their clubs. We only had Kylian (Mbappé). [Paulo] Dybala never aimed at the middle before, but he did here. The ball came this close to my foot…"
Interestingly, Emiliano Martinez is said to be one of the goalkeepers Tottenham have an eye on as Hugo Lloris' replacement.