Hugo Lloris on Monday said that he had made peace with Son Heung-min after the Tottenham Hotpsur stars were involved in a furious row during their side’s 1-0 win over Everton.
As Son walked toward the tunnel at halftime, France goalkeeper Lloris confronted the South Korea forward, shouting at him and shoving his shoulder.
The usually placid Son responded angrily, and the pair had to be kept apart by teammates Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko as the altercation threatened to boil over.
Photo: AFP
Lloris was irked by Son’s failure to close down a loose ball in midfield moments before Everton threatened through Richarlison.
“I think to concede a chance a few seconds before halftime because we didn’t make a press annoyed me, but yeah, that’s football,” Lloris said.
Neither of the feuding players was hauled off at the break as Spurs manager Jose Mourinho tried to keep the peace.
Son and Lloris looked to have buried the hatchet when they hugged at the final whistle in north London after Tottenham secured their second victory since the COVID-19 suspension.
“It just belongs to the changing room. Outside you can say whatever you want. What happened is just part of football sometimes,” Lloris said. “Let’s be honest, we are in a situation we are not happy with, so we have to fight, to make sure we all go in the same direction. Most important is to stay focused on the team. We can only do it as a team.”
“When you play a season like this one it’s very easy to fall apart, but we showed we are still together,” he said. “There is no problem at all. You could see after the game we were fine.”
Spurs sealed the points thanks to a first-half own-goal by Everton defender Michael Keane, who deflected in Giovani Lo Celso’s shot.
It was somehow fitting that the always combative Mourinho’s 200th English Premier League victory featured the flare-up between Son and Lloris.
Mourinho said that he was delighted with the row because it showed a desire to win.
“That’s beautiful. It’s probably as a consequence of our meetings, so if you want to blame someone, blame me,” Mourinho said. “I asked them to demand more from each other and put colleagues under pressure. It was the situation of the first half where an amazing kid, a team boy like Sonny, that the captain thought: ‘You have to do more.’”
“A team of nice boys, the only thing they can win at the end of the season is the fair play cup. Something I have never won and have no interest in winning,” he said. “What happened should not happen on the pitch, it should happen inside the dressing room, but I promise you my winning teams, we had big fights in the team.”
Tottenham’s second win in their past 10 games in all competitions lifted them to eighth place, one point behind north London rivals Arsenal.
Last week’s limp 3-1 defeat at Sheffield United left Mourinho questioning the desire of his players, but they took the lead in the 24th minute thanks to a welcome stroke of luck.
Son found Harry Kane in the penalty area and his effort on goal deflected to Lo Celso, whose shot was going wide until it span wickedly off Keane to wrong-foot Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Everton finally threatened in first-half stoppage-time when Richarlison burst forward to shoot wide after Son failed to chase down the loose ball.
Following Lloris’ angry exchange with Son, both players were in the spotlight for more positive reasons in the second half as Spurs held firm.
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