HUGO LLORIS has aimed a thinly-veiled dig at fellow goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez for his World Cup final penalty antics.
Martinez helped Argentina win the World Cup final against Lloris’ France last month on a shoot-out after the game had finished 3-3 in extra-time.
But the Aston Villa goalkeeper copped flak for the way he tried to put off the Les Bleus spot-kick takers.
He threw the ball away before Aurelien Tchouameni stepped up and missed, while his dancing celebrations after saving Kingsley Coman’s effort annoyed many.
The mind games worked though as Martinez tasted glory along with Lionel Messi and Co, while Lloris and many of his French team-mates were denied the chance to win back-to-back World Cups, having triumphed in Russia four years before.
Tottenham stopper Lloris became his country’s leading-appearance maker out in Qatar by reaching 145 caps, but retired from international football on Monday.
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And while the 36-year-old conceded Martinez was “instrumental” to the victory in Doha, he himself would never resort to the kind of gamesmanship his opposite number employed.
Lloris told French sports newspaper L’Equipe: “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.“
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Martinez received more stick for the way he celebrated his nation’s victory.
The ex-Arsenal man made a lewd gesture with his Golden Glove prize during the trophy ceremony, which he later explained was a way of hitting back at the French fans who had booed him.
While he mocked Kylian Mbappe – who scored a hat-trick in the final – during Argentina’s open-bus hero tour back in Buenos Aires by holding up a toy of the Paris Saint-Germain superstar which had been thrown towards him.
The behaviour saw him branded “the biggest son of a b**** in football” by former France international Adil Rami, but Lloris decided not to add his voice to the criticism.
Tottenham’s captain added: “He was instrumental. Concerning his celebrations, 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.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
