Bordeaux baffled by brilliant Lloris
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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FC Girondins de Bordeaux were left shaking their heads at the brilliance of Olympique Lyonnais goalkeeper Hugo Lloris who was "the decisive player" on Wednesday according to Wendel.
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The FC Girondins de Bordeaux players were left to rue another heroic performance from Olympique Lyonnais goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after the French titleholders narrowly failed to overhaul a two-goal deficit in Wednesday's UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg.
Lloris pulled off a series of stunning saves in Lyon's 3-1 home win a week ago, and the France No1 was in breathtaking form again at Stade Chaban-Delmas.
Although Marouane Chamakh found a way past the 23-year-old to halve the arrears from close range on the stroke of half-time, Lloris was at his commanding best in the second period and made one more superb reflex stop in the dying moments to keep out Wendel's header.
Les Girondins defender Benoît Trémoulinas is convinced his side would have reached the last four had they come up against a different goalkeeper. "The outcome hinged on the display of a great, world-class keeper," the 24-year-old left-back told UEFA.com.
"We created chances, but Hugo Lloris was always there. We're disappointed but satisfied with the way we played. Overall this season we've done well and getting to the quarter-finals isn't bad."
Wendel also singled Lloris out as "the decisive player" before claiming that Bordeaux's defensive lapses in the first leg ultimately denied them a semi-final berth. "We played some good football," the Brazilian winger said.
"We gave everything for 90 minutes but Lyon managed to keep their lead thanks largely to Lloris," continued the 28-year-old. "We're sad tonight, but we lost the tie in the first leg. We should have defended better over there and we shouldn't have lost that game by two goals. Letting in the third is what has cost us."
The scenario was particularly frustrating for Marc Planus, arguably Bordeaux's best defender in this season's competition. The experienced vice-captain sat out the match in Lyon through injury yet returned to give Laurent Blanc's team a more solid look on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old struggled to hide his disappointment, saying: "It's very tough to accept. We tried a lot of things but not everything came off unfortunately. We turned in a good performance, though, with everyone taking responsibility. I don't think we can be disappointed about the performance. We do regret the way we played in the first leg, though."