Rio Ferdinand stunned by Spurs’ Hugo Lloris’ error in World Cup final

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Tottenham Hotspur star Hugo Lloris lifted the World Cup, but may have one negative memory from Sunday’s final.

Rio Ferdinand has told BBC Sport’s live post-match coverage of Sunday’s World Cup final between France and Croatia (broadcast on 15/07 from 3:50 pm) that he was left stunned after watching Spurs star Hugo Lloris’ blunder during the game that provided the runners-up with a glimmer of hope after the French had seemingly been out of sight.

The 1998 winners were 4-1 up heading into the final 25 minutes inside the Luzhniki Stadium as Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe had all got on the scoresheet after Ivan Perisic had cancelled out Mario Mandzukic’s own goal that had broken the deadlock.

However, Mandzukic handed the Croatians a lifeline with little more than 20 minutes to go, but he certainly had the Tottenham captain to thank for the goal.

Lloris received the ball from a back pass and attempted to take it round the Juventus star, only for Mandzukic to telegraph the apparent nutmeg attempt and deflect the ball into the back of the net.

It did not have an impact on the result however, as France stood strong to run out 4-2 winners and hand Lloris the chance to lift the trophy that manager Didier Deschamps was presented with 20 years ago. But after the game, Ferdinand admitted to being baffled by the incident involving the Spurs stalwart.

“We were all sitting here, just aghast, like what is he doing? What is he thinking? Every part about this is wrong. Go away from where the forward’s coming from. It’s like he’s almost thinking, ‘you know what, I need to get on the showreel here’,” he told BBC Sport.

The incident may prompt the group of Lloris’ critics – which seemed to grow in number somewhat last season – to suggest that it is another example as to why Mauricio Pochettino needs to replace him for Spurs sooner rather than later. But the Frenchman can now respond by showing images of himself lifting the World Cup trophy when all was said and done.