Hugo Lloris: Real Madrid performance vindicated my decision not to leave Tottenham

For Hugo Lloris, Tuesday night was a proud marker of how fair his Tottenham team have come, but also a vindication of his long-held belief that they would.

Lloris, as is well known now, was considering leaving Tottenham when Mauricio Pochettino took over back in 2014. But he took a risk and gambled on Pochettino. Leading his team out at the Santiago Bernabeu, and playing brilliantly in a 1-1 draw, meant that Lloris was right.

Speaking at the Bernabeu, late on Tuesday night, Lloris did not want to take too much credit for his foresight. But he was one of the first to spot Spurs are on the right path and with a new stadium to move into next year, he knows that there is still far more to come from this young team.

“From the first moment I believed in Pochettino, and that's it,” he said, looking back to 2014. As captain and, Fernando Llorente aside, the man with the most top-level experience, Lloris has a mentoring role at Spurs too which he relishes. “I don't need that to say yes, I was right at the time. It was my feeling when I met him. Now I just enjoy the football we play. There is a great potential in the squad, a great project in our club, and I am looking forward to see this development. I try my best to help the team and the club to develop too.

Lloris has been here since the Europa League days and so he knows how far they have come. Not just since when they used to play Asteras Tripolis and Qarabag, either, but even from last year, when they looked naïve and out of place when they ventured into the Champions League.

"This is what I said to them, to my team-mates: Don't forget that three years ago we were still in the Europa League,” Lloris said. “Last season we discovered the Champions League. But we were very disappointed with the performances that we had. And I think we built a strong confidence from the start of this competition, with a good win against Dortmund, we confirmed that win in Nicosia, and you can see Dortmund drew [there] so it's not an easy place to go."

That points to a new maturity to this year’s Spurs, borne of more experience, more confidence, and it is showing on the pitch. It takes a lot to beat Dortmund like they did, or to go to Real Madrid and deserve a point, and it shows that even in the fourth season of the Pochettino era this team is still on an upwards curve.

“You need confidence in football, you need maturity, you need experience,” Lloris explained. “I think we are showing that we learn a lot from last season. And that's great. We are still a young team, but when you see Harry Winks, 21, the way that he performed was fantastic. I mention him but I can mention all the lads. So it's good. But as I said, more difficult is to confirm in football."

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With Liverpool this Sunday, Manchester United next weekend and Real Madrid around the corner, Spurs are entering the hardest part of their season. They have to keep this up, but if they do, anything is possible.

“But the most important thing in football is to stay up there, the next game will be more important, and even more the other game, and we can expect a very tough game in Wembley against Madrid. We can enjoy now, but then we switch off and turn our minds to the next game."