Former Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris has referenced Real Madrid’s UEFA Champions League dominance as an example to follow.
Lloris opted to leave the Premier League giants in December 2023, to join Los Angeles FC on a free transfer, after being removed from the first team picture in North London.
His move away from Spurs left him on 447 appearances across all competitions, following a 2012 move from Lyon, as the highest appearance maker for a non-British player in the club’s history.
However, despite his longevity at Tottenham, Lloris did not win a trophy in England, losing two EFL Cup finals, and the 2019 Champions League final in Madrid against Liverpool.
Tottenham’s last trophy win came in the 2008 EFL Cup, and Lloris has hit out at the club’s mentality during his time there, as a symbol of why they have fallen short.
“Four days before the Champions League final, Daniel Levy called us all together to announce we would each receive a luxurious aviator watch from the club. Engraved on the back of the watches the name of the player and: ‘Champions League finalist 2019: Finalist”, Lloris stated in his new autobiography, serialised by the The Guardian.
“Who does something like that at a time like that? I still haven’t got over it and I’m not the only one.
“When I went back to my room on the night of the final defeat, 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 lost final and we shouldn’t have either.”
