Spurs skipper Lloris says the game needs the passion, the colour and the noise of crowds but we must find the right balance between health and football

HUGO LLORIS finished the 2018 season on top of the world in Moscow and ended the 2019 campaign in the depths of despair in Madrid.

Sharing the contrasting emotions with fans after World Cup glory and Champions League heartache is all part of the beautiful game for the Tottenham and France captain.

It is why Lloris – who lifted the World Cup in front of 78,000 fans at the Luzhniki Stadium (right) – does not want the domestic season to bow out with a whimper behind closed doors.

“Without fans, it is not the same sport,” he said.

But the Spurs No.1 insists it would be wrong to award Premier League runaway leaders Liverpool the title because even Anfield players would feel they “unfinished business.”

Project Restart plans to see the remaining 92 games of the topflight season played on neutral grounds without spectators. But this solution is too antiseptic for the passionate Frenchman.

“Football is not a sport to be played behind closed doors,” Lloris said. “We are there to share our emotions. We want all the stadiums full, with atmosphere, with fans, with colour and with chants.”

But the 33-year-old

(who failed to add the Champions

League to his list of honours, far right) says it is right to show caution, with the coronavirus pandemic far from over, “Everyone must still had find the right compromise between health – which is the most important thing – and the need to finish the season,” he said.

Tottenham are in eighth place after 29 games – 41 points behind the Liverpool team which beat them in last season’s Champions League final.

The Reds are 25 points clear of second-placed Manchester City and need only six points to lift their first Premier League title.

“We are in the situation

where everyone wants to finish and reach a verdict on the pitch,” said Lloris. “It would be terrible if everything stopped nine games from the end of the season. It would also be cruel for Liverpool. It would feel like unfinished business for them. And we are approaching the most exciting time of the season. No one wants it to end like this.”

Lloris, who opted to stay in London for the lockdown rather than return to France, has been home-schooling his two oldest children and has now returned to the training ground. “I am alone with my goalkeeping coach. We do an hour of exercises,” he said. “Afterwards, I don’t hang about. As soon as we are finished, I get back in my car and go home to take a shower.”