France captain says ‘time for Mbappe’s generation’ after World Cup final loss

Agencies | Paris

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

France captain Hugo Lloris said the World Cup in Qatar marked a shift towards the team’s new generation led by Kylian Mbappe following Sunday’s final defeat to Argentina.

The tournament was “a passing of the baton between one generation coming to the final stage of their careers to a new generation led by Mbappe,” said goalkeeper Lloris, who turns 36 later this month.

Lloris, France’s record appearance maker with 145 caps, said Mbappe “showed strong leadership during the tournament and even more so in this final”.

“It was like a boxing match, we went blow for blow,” said Lloris, who hailed the defending champions’ recovery from 2-0 down with just 10 minutes left in normal time.

“We didn’t give up. We needed a winner and it was decided on penalties.

That’s always cruel. We are empty.” Lloris was beaten by all four Argentine penalties in the shootout, including one from Lionel Messi who had already scored twice in the game.

“We could have let it slip at 2-0 but we continued to believe that we could turn the game around,” added Lloris.

“We must congratulate Argentina who played a great tournament and a great final.”