Hugo Lloris had not played since 27 August and everybody knows what has happened since – the drink-driving conviction; the ugly details in court; the shame and humiliation.
That last appearance at Manchester United, where Tottenham won 3-0, was three days after Lloris’s arrest and, when he injured himself during the match, Mauricio Pochettino put it down to the “massive stress” the goalkeeper was feeling because of his off-field problems.
Now, here Lloris was – thigh injury healed and thrust back into the Spurs lineup for Wednesday’s Champions League match against Barcelona at Wembley. Nothing prepares you for Lionel Messi. Pochettino had suggested beforehand his players ought simply to enjoy the experience of sharing the pitch with one of the greats. It is questionable whether they did.
By any stretch, even for a player of Lloris’s experience, it was a daunting return and it is not difficult to imagine the hammer of his heart and the whirr of his thoughts at the outset. Then, Messi got on the ball, played a tantalising pass into the inside-left channel for Jordi Alba and, when Kieran Trippier got himself into a tangle, Lloris made his decision.
It was the wrong one and the keeper knew it by the time he had launched into a forlorn slide on Alba. The Barcelona full-back turned the ball inside and Philippe Coutinho fired low into the net Lloris had vacated.
Pochettino would make a big deal of the second-minute goal post-match. Even though so much would happen in what was a wild 4-2 Barcelona win, he felt it was the decisive moment. It had wrecked his gameplan and Spurs were always playing catch-up, which against Messi can be an unnerving experience.
Lloris had prayed for an unobtrusive return. Some hope. He was in the crosshairs from the start and there was a good deal of chuntering among Tottenham fans in the second half when he once again charged from his line and did not clean up. On this occasion, he got away with it.
Lloris looked like he was rusty and perhaps a little anxious. The positive reading was he had got a difficult game out of his system. His comeback was always likely to have the potential for problems. The negative one was he will now be under even greater scrutiny. He knows it and he made the point he has work to do to get back up to speed. Tottenham’s next game is on Saturday against Cardiff at Wembley.
“A few things have happened in my private life,” Lloris said, with glorious understatement. “But the most important thing is to stay focused on your job. It’s not easy to be back in this type of game against Barcelona without a game before but I tried my best. The most important thing for me is to be back and then build confidence and be back at my level – repeat and repeat games to be at 100%.”
In a season of problems for Pochettino, the Lloris one has felt like the most needless and surprising. But it must be resolved, just as the other glitches on display against Barcelona do. When Harry Kane scored to cut the deficit to 2-1 on 52 minutes, it represented the most unlikely of lifelines. Messi had just hit the post twice. How were Barcelona not out of sight?
Pochettino readied a substitute – Eric Dier for Victor Wanyama – but as he stood on the touchline, he threw his hands high and his head back as Messi made it 3-1 on 56 minutes.
Tottenham showed their toughness by refusing to accept defeat, even though they had been comprehensively outplayed for the first hour or so. Érik Lamela’s goal made it 3-2 and Lucas Moura went close to an equaliser before Messi scored again late on. Pochettino could talk up the team’s fighting spirit and yet it was possible to feel the timing of Barcelona’s third goal hurt him as much as the opener.
“We conceded goals at not the best moments,” Lloris said. “The first one – I’m involved with my decision – so we are 1-0 down after a few minutes. And then at 2-1, we started to believe again and then we concede 3-1 too early again. We made a lot of effort and that’s very positive because Barcelona had to increase their level to beat us. But we cannot be happy only with this. We needed points.”
Tottenham remain without one in Group B, having lost their first game at Internazionale, and the double-header against PSV Eindhoven, who are also pointless, will be pivotal.
“We’re in a bad situation but we need to stay calm,” Lloris said. “We need to react as a team and be ready for the next game against PSV. We need two great performances against them. We can all feel Barcelona are one step ahead of us.”
