October 7 – France captain Hugo Lloris is out of action until the New Year after dislocating his elbow playing for his club Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.
The goalkeeper suffered the injury during Tottenham’s 3-0 defeat at Brighton when he fell awkwardly after falling to collect a cross that led to the opening goal. He is not expected to return to training until January, the club confirmed, and although he does not need surgery he has suffered ligament damage.
Lloris would have skippered his country for the forthcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Iceland and Turkey.
France coach Didier Deschamps said his country would be missing a “very important” player and despite his indifferent form, losing his club captain puts Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino under further strain in the wake of the club’s dismal form of late.
Saturday’s defeat came four days after their 7-2 home humiliation by Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Lloris will now miss key fixtures against Liverpool, Everton, Red Star Belgrade and Manchester United, among others.
In a speech to a conference in Qatar during the current international break, Pochettino said he would not allow the worst period in his five and half years at Tottenham to destroy all the work he had done at the club.
“You must always react with dignity to the result, regardless of whether it is good or bad,” he told his audience. “The most important thing now is to have two weeks to try to be clear, to find a solution. It is an experience we are going to use to be stronger and be wiser… We can bounce back. Things change fast in football.”
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