Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has revealed a moment that should have been a happy one before the Champions League final in 2019, but one small detail made him realise the club were destined to lose.
The revelation comes in an extract from the gloveman’s new autobiography, Earning My Spurs, published by the Guardian.
In it, the Frenchman casts his mind back to the days leading up to Spurs’ meeting with Liverpool, where the dishing out of a gift solidified the losing mentality of the north London club in Lloris’ mind.
The gift that left Hugo Lloris questioning the mentality of Spurs
In the extract, Lloris reveals that Tottenham’s owner, Daniel Levy, gathered the squad together in the days before the showpiece final to give each member an aviator watch, a gift to commemorate this landmark moment in their careers.
A lovely gesture, right? The goalkeeper thought so too, until he flipped the timepiece over to reveal ‘Champions League Finalist 2019’ engraved under his name on the back.
Lloris felt that, in a nutshell, it represented a mentality that has seen Spurs go without a major trophy since 2008, that those running the club were just happy to be there. “It’s the taking part that counts,” the gift screamed.
The former France international goes on to say that he respects Levy for everything he has done for Tottenham, but that he is prone to such misjudgements in messaging.
“As magnificent as the watch is, I have never worn it,” Lloris wrote. “I would have preferred there to be nothing on it.”
You’d be forgiven for forgetting the snoozefest at the Estadio Metropolitano that night, but Spurs did indeed lose, and much like that watch had alluded to, the Frenchman felt many inside the club were too content with the result.
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In FourFourTwo’s opinion, Lloris’ misgivings seem fair. Why would Levy take a phrase more at home on a runners-up medal and carve it into a pre-match gift? It portrays a mentality that key figures like him believed Spurs were operating beyond their station.
It was clearly well-intentioned, but it hit the wrong note. What’s most surprising is it sounds like Lloris still has the watch. Has he never heard of eBay?