Arsenal legend Martin Keown has blasted Hugo Lloris after the Tottenham goalkeeper’s rush of blood to the head allowed Barcelona to get off to a flying start in their Champions League meeting on Wednesday night.
It took just two minutes for Philippe Coutinho to open the scoring when he capitalised on an error by Lloris, who was caught rushing off his goal line in a bid to win a loose ball.
The France international had a stinker on his return from injury and Keown reckons that his mistake was due to him being desperate to impress after a few weeks on the sidelines.
“His decision-making was poor for Barcelona’s first goal. As a sweeper-keeper you run the risk of getting it wrong if you fly off your line,” said Keown via the Daily Mail website.
“It was like someone had fired him out of a gun the way he raced out to Jordi Alba. I can understand him being desperate to help his team after a few weeks on the sidelines and it is difficult coming back in for such a big game but in that moment he cost his team.
“Lloris may have got away with that mistake in the Premier League but in Europe a side like Barcelona will punish you.”
OPINION
It’s always hard for a goalkeeper to return from injury but Lloris has been making these kind of mistakes on a regular basis over the last 12 months – he even had a shocker in the World Cup final despite France winning against Croatia. Paulo Gazzaniga came in while Lloris and Michel Vorm were injured and did a brilliant job against Brighton, Watford and Huddersfield. While there is a massive gulf in quality between those three and Barcelona, you must admit that an in-form Gazzaniga wouldn’t have made that mistake that Lloris did to gift Coutinho his goal. Mauricio Pochettino really has to have a good hard think about this because Gazzaniga’s form is definitely better than Lloris’, but the Frenchman is Spurs’ club captain and rated as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League. No one should be immune to the axe though and maybe a spell on the bench will do Lloris some good.