Hugo reflects on Europa League opener

Hugo Lloris insisted it was important to keep a clean sheet intact and come away with a point from Partizan Belgrade.

Chances were few and far between in a tough, somewhat scrappy encounter to open our campaign in Group C of the Europa League in Serbia on Thursday night.

Captain on the night, Hugo punched clear a couple of dangerous set-pieces but was only seriously tested once when Danilo Pantic broke into the box and aimed for the far corner, Hugo taking the effort fairly comfortably down to his right.

At the other end, Harry Kane hammered against the underside of the crossbar inside two minutes and that’s as close as both sides came as it ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

“We started the game to win but it wasn’t easy to put intensity into the game with short passing and movement,” said Hugo.

“We tried but when to come to win, you don’t lose.

“This is what we did and this is the most important thing.

“We kept a clean sheet and one point to start the competition is good because we know at home we can make the difference.”

Hugo had praise for debutant Federico Fazio, who formed a central defensive partnership with Jan Vertonghen and dealt impressively with anything thrown his way.

“He was really comfortable and his adaptation has been very good in the team,” added Hugo. “Everyone had a good spirit. Okay, we could have done better with the ball but it’s okay to start the competition in this way.”