Euro 2016

France keeper Hugo Lloris: 'We cannot afford to concede early in quarter-finals'

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter | 28 June 2016

France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris says that his team cannot afford to concede early like they did against Republic of Ireland at Euro 2016.

France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has insisted that he and his teammates cannot afford to concede early in their remaining Euro 2016 matches after a scare against the Republic of Ireland.

The tournament hosts conceded a third-minute penalty from Robbie Brady after Paul Pogba fouled Shane Long in the box during their last-16 clash in Lyon on Sunday.

France managed to bounce back to claim a 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Antoine Griezmann, and Lloris has warned his teammates not to allow any mistakes against minnows Iceland in the quarter-finals.

"We need to learn about that because maybe at this stage of the competition it's possible to go through but in the next round, that kind of mistake, we need to avoid that," FourFourTwo quotes Lloris as saying. "The good thing is that we have one week to prepare for the next game.

"It's true that the tactical change of the manager helped the team a little bit as well. It's in the attitude. We changed our attitude, we were more aggressive, showed more determination in the second half and I think we were rewarded by the way we fought at the end because in the second half we fully deserved this qualification."

France's quarter-final opponents were decided on Monday night when Iceland shocked England with a 2-1 win in Nice.