"Today I scored a goal, but Banks stopped it".
This famous sentence pronounced by King Pelé on June 7, 1970, Dennis Hadzikadunic could have whispered it, Wednesday evening, by replacing the name of the former England goalkeeper by that of Hugo Lloris.
On the lawn of Stadion Grbavica in Sarajevo, the captain of the France team has indeed released a very classy save against Bosnia and its defender in the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup (see here on M6).
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After a corner kick taken by Miralem Pjanic in the 26th minute, Hadzikadunic placed a beautiful header into the six meters which took the direction of the net.
Alert on his goal line, Lloris then leapt horizontally in a fraction of a second, his left arm extended to push the ball back into the air.
By its speed of execution and the trajectory of the ball after the parade, this stop effectively recalls that of Gordon Banks in front of Pelé at the 1970 World Cup (Brazil's 1-0 victory in the group stage).
"This man, Banks, appeared as a sort of specter in blue"
Pele
At the Jalisco stadium in Guadalajara, the Stoke City goalkeeper had, at the cost of a fantastic leap, deflected for a corner a smashed header from the Brazilian legend placed flush with the post, for what would become “the stop of the century”.
"I heard Pelé shout 'Goal' after his head," later said the former England goalkeeper, who died in 2019. At the time of his disappearance, Pelé had reconsidered this action entered in history: " It was the face I wanted to make.
Perfectly where I wanted to put it.
And I was ready to celebrate my goal.
But this man, Banks, appeared as some sort of specter in blue.
He came out of nowhere and achieved something that I thought was impossible.
He stopped my head ”.
Seeing him hold his head in his hands as soon as the ball was rejected by Lloris, Dennis Hadzikadunic probably had the same feeling as King Pelé 51 years earlier.
As a good captain, Hugo Lloris, who celebrated his 123rd selection in blue on Wednesday to become, tied with Thierry Henry, the 2nd most capped player in history behind Lilian Thuram (142), did not want to pull the cover at him although he pulled the world champions from a bad step (victory 1-0).
"We played badly but we won with the state of mind," was content to whisper the Tottenham goalkeeper who has, throughout his immense international career, gratified supporters with parades as spectacular as they are decisive.
Against Germany in the semi-finals of Euro 2016 or against Uruguay then Belgium in the quarter and a half of the 2018 World Cup. Among others.
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