LLORIS: FANS MUST MAKE WEMBLEY A FORTRESS
TOTTENHAM goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has called on the club’s supporters to rally behind the team ahead of the first leg of tomorrow night’s Champions League last-16 tie against Borussia Dortmund. The captain’s call to arms comes amid slumping attendances at Wembley. The recent home game against Watford saw less than 30,000 turn up as supporters become disgruntled with the delayed move to the new White Hart Lane Stadium. The attendance in the 3-1 victory over Leicester was back up beyond 44,000, but over 82,000 attended when Tottenham hosted Barcelona in the Champions League group stage earlier in the season. Lloris said: ‘We need the stadium to push, to help us. In some days it’s difficult to deal with Wembley but hopefully in this big game we’ll receive this help from the crowd.’ In the Premier League, Tottenham remain within five points of Liverpool and Manchester City after beating Leicester 3-1. Lloris made a string of excellent stops including a penalty save when Jamie Vardy took the kick with his first touch as a substitute. Lloris said: ‘I know him a little more than other players. He usually shoots strong and he can go everywhere in the goal. But on his first touch? You
need intuition and a bit of luck to save it.’ Lloris also warned that Spurs must produce a better performance against Dortmund after Leicester had 20 shots on goal. The Frenchman added: ‘Leicester played in a fantastic way and I think we won the game thanks to our spirit and character. Without that, we could not win this game. ‘I think we need to improve the team performance. We won but against a bigger side we couldn’t have won that type of game. It’s up to us. The mentality is great in the changing room and we showed that again on a difficult day.’