Hugo ready for world stage

Hugo Lloris was typically modest after being named in France’s 23-man squad for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.

Our charismatic yet down-to-earth goalkeeper, who is the captain of his national side, was confirmed in the French travelling party last night ahead of next month’s showpiece tournament.

France will take their place in Group E alongside Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras.

And while Hugo confirmed he’s relishing the chance to lead his nation out in Brazil, he preferred not to marvel at the personal achievement of being selected to represent France on such a big stage.

“I don’t think about that kind of thing,” Hugo said. “I’m just a competitor. I will try to help the team to do well and we will try to give everything.

“We are looking forward to it. We want to enjoy it and we want to be competitive.”

On a domestic level, Hugo was delighted we were able to round off our Premier League season with a comfortable win against Aston Villa at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Paulinho’s early strike and an own goal from Nathan Baker were followed up by an Emmanuel Adebayor penalty as we secured a 3-0 win on the final day of the campaign.

And Hugo insisted the result, which confirmed our participation in next season’s Europa League, was a welcome one.

“We are happy to finish with three points,” he said. “We realised the objective to finish in a qualifying spot for European football next season.

“I think we can say this season was difficult, not good enough, but we finished with 69 points. That’s a good number.

“We have to learn from this season, especially against the top teams, but against the rest of the league we did a good job and had some good results.”