Banker’s son, Lloris seeks unprecedented feat in Hearts after dreaming of Roland Garros

In a team that for years has been betting on the formation of multiethnic squads, with players children or grandchildren of migrants who went to Europe in search of a better life, Hugo Lloris, 35, is an exception in the French team.

Athlete who most often wore the shirt of his country, with 144 games, the French captain is the son of Luc Lloris, a banker who made his fortune in Monte Carlo, and Christine Lloris, a lawyer who for years worked in an English office also based in in the Principality of Monaco.

The two met while managing foreign investments in the small principality, but soon moved to Nice, where the family settled.

Before choosing football as a career, the goalkeeper who lifted the World Cup in 2018 experienced a dilemma between the fields and the courts as a child. He and his brother enjoyed playing tennis. And winning the Roland Garros tournament was one of his dreams.

As well as under the goalposts, the current Tottenham goalkeeper was also good with the racket, with proposals to play tennis at the Des Combes club, but opted for football.

At first, he had to convince his parents. As a boy, but already as a goalkeeper, he played for a neighborhood club called Cedac, for which he stood out to the point of attracting the attention of Nice. When the French giant wanted to hire him, his parents even vetoed the deal, as his priority should be his studies.

It took many conversations until they were convinced. Not only did the young man’s will prevail, but Nice’s insistence on his talent. But there was one condition: the studies could not be left aside.

“I’m disciplined and I owe that to my parents. I studied in the morning and trained in the afternoon. And on the weekend there was a game, but also proofreading and language classes that my parents wanted me to take”, explained Lloris.

After three years wearing the Nice shirt, from 2005 to 2008, he moved to Lyon, at the time, the most powerful club in the country. In the same year, he was called up for the first time to defend the French national team.

That’s when it started to accumulate historical marks. Currently, he is the athlete who most often defended France, with 144 games, a number he reached in this edition of the World Cup, leaving behind former defender Lilian Thuram, who added 142 throughout his career.

Lloris tied in number of games with the former athlete in the match against England, for the quarterfinals. It was a special game for the goalkeeper, who arrived at the World Cup touted as the weak point of the team.

The criticism came mainly from the British press, which follows the goalkeeper at Tottenham on a daily basis. On the eve of the confrontation, the goalkeeper himself said that the confrontation “would have a special flavor”. At least for the French, it was good.

He made three great saves throughout the match, one of them on a Harry Kane kick, and even saw the English striker isolate a penalty kick in the final stage. The duel ended 2-1 in favor of France.

In the next phase, when he entered the field against the Moroccan team, he completed 19 appearances in World Cups, tying with Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper of Germany, champion in 2014. Under the goalposts, no one played more games than the two.

This Sunday (18), as soon as the big decision against Argentina begins, at the Lusail stadium, at 12:00 (Brasília time), the Frenchman will already be isolated on this list.

But he still wants more. Hugo Lloris will have the chance to become the first captain to lift the World Cup twice.

In 22 editions so far, a captain has never managed to repeat the gesture eternalized by names like Cafu, Dunga, Maradona, Matthäus, Carlos Alberto and Beckenbauer.

It will also be a good chance for him to erase the bad image, although less remembered, that he left in the 2018 decision, in Russia, where even with France champion over Croatia, he was marked by an important failure in the second goal of the croats.

The goalkeeper tried to dribble past Mandzukic, lost the ball and conceded one of the most colorful goals in a World Cup final. Lucky for him, France had already scored their four goals and the duel ended 4-2.

Against Argentina, a new failure could cost more.