On the occasion of the quarter -final against England on Saturday, the goalkeeper of the French team will become the most capped player in the history of the Blues. Discreet character, legitimist leader, the Niçois does not run after notoriety or recognition.
by Alexandre Pedro (Doha, Special Envoy)
Difficult to imagine two more opposite personalities. Saturday, December 10, in Al-Khor, north of Doha, Hugo Lloris will put on his gloves for the 143 time in the French team, on the occasion of a quarter of the World Cup final . Faced with England, he will be alone with his record, in front of a lilian Thuram who passed as a defender of the Blues to that of the fight against racism. Thuram the politician, including the former international Patrice Evra Write, Perfide, in his autobiography that “he takes himself for Malcolm X because he wears glasses and reads books”.
At 35, Hugo Lloris does not take it for anyone, has no vision problems, and we do not know everything about his readings. In reality, the Niçois remains a closed book, and nothing indicates that it will open before the end of his career. By force, some see in him only a lukewarm water tap, others plead for the idea of a modest man doubled with a legalist. In Doha, Lloris carries the word of power.
When, before the start of this deceased World Cup, we press the Blues to take a position on human rights in Qatar, the captain of the Blues displays an embarrassing neutrality: “When we welcome foreigners in France, we often have The desire they lend our rules and respect our culture. I will do the same when I go to Qatar. “
By dint of occupying the function, Lloris – captain for a good decade – has become the function, with the duty of reserve that accompanies him. When the footballer takes place behind the microphone during the traditional pre-match conference, the journalist expects to receive an official word articulated in a fluid French. The choice, there will be a question of respecting the opponent, of the primacy of the collective on the individual and the honor of representing his country.
A smooth and assumed but misleading public image, according to Claude Puel. “He is quite the opposite. He has a big character and a lot of personality. We do not make a career like his, if not, assures his trainer in Lyon between 2008 and 2011. But as outside the field it is a father Discreet family, which he shows little, does not expose too much on social networks, there is this image of him. “
The interested party also contributed to cultivating it, by this deleted erasure or the locking of his words. In Qatar air -conditioned news rooms, some colleagues regret another Hugo Lloris, that of the beginnings in Nice or its first Lyon years. With a banker father in Monaco and a lawyer (died in 2008 from cancer), the young man detonates by his sociological profile, declares that he is “obliged to nothing in football” and speaks freely, in particular of His core business: stop opposing shots.
You have 70.17% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.