Hugo Lloris: 'We need everyone'

Experienced or not, Hugo Lloris says every member of the squad is as important as the next as we bid to hit our Champions League target this weekend.

Mauricio Pochettino has brought 26 players to Madrid for Saturday’s final against Liverpool, with 23 of those having featured at least once in the competition prior to the showpiece fixture. Of the remaining three, Oliver Skipp has been named as a substitute in seven of our 12 games up to this point, with fellow Academy starlets Alfie Whiteman and George Marsh having also trained regularly with the group and travelled with us previously.

Speaking at the last pre-match press conference on Friday evening at the Wanda Metropolitano, goalkeeper and captain Hugo insisted: “We need everyone. I think it’s a good mix inside the changing room of experienced and young players.”

Asked how he, as a changing room leader and one of the elder statesmen in the group, can advise the less experience players in the squad, the World Cup winner said: “Just follow leaders – first of all the manager and coaching staff and then the team leaders and then be ready because it’s going to be a fantastic game to play, to enjoy and the best way to enjoy it is to win.

“Every player is important at this stage of competition because it’s going to be about details, so any players can be decisive. We all want to win and we must be ready to make all the effort.

“I think the togetherness (is key) and the best example was the semi-final in Amsterdam (against Ajax). After the game, the communion between players and staff, players with the chairman, players with the fans… this moment was one of the best moments in our Spurs careers and obviously we want a better moment tomorrow after the game.

“As a professional athlete I think it’s important to enjoy the way you work. Football is a collective sport, we spend so much time together, we start to work with togetherness and that will help us to achieve big things in the competition and this is probably why we are at this stage of the competition, because we are a proper team.”

Central midfielder Harry Winks, back in the frame after a groin problem kept him out of the closing stages of our Premier League campaign, expressed his pride at seeing us prepare to compete for the biggest prize in European club football, having been at Spurs man and boy.

“The occasion is massive, not only for everyone involved but the club and fans,” he said. “It just shows how far Tottenham has come as a club and I’ve managed to see it from years ago to where it is today. It’s going to be a really special night for everybody and quite an emotional night as well.”