Hugo: 'We have a different profile up front... we're ready'

Hugo Lloris has given his backing to our front players to go out and take the game to Manchester City in the absence of Harry Kane at the Etihad.

We lock horns with City on their own patch on Wednesday night (8pm) with a 1-0 lead in our Champions League quarter-final and with a coveted spot in the semi-finals of the celebrated European competition up for grabs.

Talismanic striker Harry hobbled off injured in the first leg at home last week before Heung-Min Son struck to give us the upper hand in the tie – and goalkeeper Hugo has full faith in his team-mates to provide the goals in Harry’s absence as we look to build on that scoreline in the second leg.

“As you know it’s very difficult to replace a player like Harry Kane but the good thing is everyone is ready to help the team,” said our captain at his pre-match press conference ahead of the first of two visits to the Etihad this week, the other coming in the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime.

“We have a different profile up front and they are ready to help and to give the maximum for the team like we did when we missed Harry (before). In football it’s all about the team performance, even if there is an individual performance that can make the difference. It’s important to be strong together.

“(We have to) try to enjoy this moment. The Club, the fans, the players, the coaching staff… we are all excited and ready to fight tomorrow and to try to make history for our Club.”

Hugo saved an early penalty from Sergio Aguero in last week’s first leg as we prevented City from grabbing an away goal – something that the French international acknowledges was particularly important in the tie.

“I don’t think it’s the only reason (we won last week) because we made such an effort to win this game, but it was a key moment,” he said. “We know in the Champions League it’s always important not to concede a goal at home. It can help you for the return game away but as you know we are going to face one of the best teams in Europe, they have so much quality in the squad which can make the difference at any moment. They can score a lot of goals if the opponents show weakness.

“Tomorrow it’s going to be a different game. We have a small advantage but everything can turn very quickly so it’s important to come here with ambition, to stick with our basics as usual but if we come here with the mentality to score goals it’s going to make the game harder for Manchester City. We know it’s going to be tough, we’re going to suffer, but it’s important to be ready in our minds not just to defend but to be ambitious in our performance.

“Of course, we are ready to suffer but we know we can make the game difficult for them too. It’s about enjoying being at this stage of the competition, to be ready to compete. The mentality is very important in a big game like this one and we’ll see what we will deserve.”