France Is A Disciplined Team – Hugo Lloris

Hugo Lloris has praised Peru for their effort and called the match like playing an away game after Les Bleus won 1-0 in Yekaterinburg on Thursday to move to the top of Group C and confirm the South Americans exit before the round of 16.

Kylian Mbappe’s first-half strike secured all three points for the French and Lloris, who made an excellent low save to deny opposing captain Paolo Guerrero in the first half, admitted that the Peruvians did not give up without a fight.

“Peru were aggressive, as we expected them to be,” the Tottenham Hotspur keeper told journalists in the mixed zone at Central Stadium. “We were solid and managed to stay calm and lucid in the key moments — we mastered those.

“It was a great collective display overall — we were very disciplined. In these matches, you have to know how to win 1-0 and stay strong, even at difficult moments.

“We remained focused, even if Peru did their best to unsettle us — to be honest, it was like playing away from home and it was actually nice.”

Lloris, 31, was particularly pleased that France are now capable of playing with discipline, which has previously been their undoing.

“Everyone deserves congratulations,” he added. “We have found a disciplined France and that bodes well for the future.”

France coach Didier Deschamps was happy with the result as well, even if the performance left a bit to be desired, and revealed that his team’s goal now is to secure top spot in the group with a match against Denmark yet to play.

“We suffered in the second half,” the French tactician told TF1 post-match. “There was rhythm, but we found it hard getting out and when we were in possession, we did not keep hold of it for long.

“That said, Peru are a good team. A second win, so we have qualified, which was our aim. We are very satisfied with what the players did here.

“First place is obviously the objective, but we will also enjoy ourselves. We have won two matches, which is something that not everybody has been able to do, but we will not get too carried away — there is the third game to think about.”