Lloris: Winning is all that matters

France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is pleased to have six points from six, regardless of the manner of wins against Romania and Albania.

On both occasions, France have needed the late brilliance of Dimitri Payet to seal wins.

He scored the winner against Romania and on Wednesday he doubled France’s lead after Antoine Griezmann had put his side 1-0 up in the 90th minute.

But while the performances overall have left much to be desired, Lloris says the only thing that matters is winning.

“The most important thing is to have six points today. We expected this kind of scenario, although we would have preferred to score in the first half,” the Tottenham shot-stopper said.

“We showed a lot of maturity, because we knew how to be patient until the end. We were rewarded with this very beautiful goal. Although it was surprising to see Adil Rami in to do an assist.”

Lloris said his team had to be more aggressive in possession early in games, but denied coach Didier Deschamps’ new system was the problem.

“The feeling was different compared to the opening match. We need to be more aggressive, to put more intensity, otherwise we’ll take too many risks in the future,” he said.

“We were present from beginning to end. We had the generosity and heart. But with the ball, it’s true that it was not enough in the first half.

“We must have confidence in this competition. Take one game after another.

“But I think we showed a lot of maturity against the Albanians who made a great game.

“They were able to be solid defensively and endanger us on some counters and set-pieces. We have improved our performance in the second half.”

Asked if France can win the whole tournament by only scoring goals in the 89th minute or later, Lloris said as long as he and his team-mates believed they could win every game, no matter how late, anything was possible.

“This demonstrates once again that the game is played in the head,” he said.

“We have to believe until the end. Play with the heart, head, legs, and I want to emphasise that the public has played its role,” he said.

“It is a great pleasure to be on the field and feel all this enthusiasm that prompted us to go for the win.”