18.06.2021 16:24 h

Lloris urges against French 'over confidence'

France captain Hugo Lloris said on Friday that he and his teammates should guard against complacency when they take on Hungary after beginning Euro 2020 in impressive fashion.

Didier Deschamps' side looked every inch the tournament favourites in beating Germany in Munich in their first Group F match, but Tottenham goalkeeper Lloris says Les Bleus need to prepare themselves for a different challenge on Saturday (1300 GMT) in front of a big crowd at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.

"We can't admire ourselves in the mirror too much, it was only the first match and the road is still very, very long," Lloris told reporters.

"We have a number of challenges facing us... but it is important to have begun the tournament with such a great collective performance... We should build on that.

"It's important in sport to be confident. That confidence is based on what you've done before, but you can't be over confident -- we respect our opponents and we respect the competition."

France can secure a spot in the round of 16 with a win over Hungary, who are expecting a crowd approaching 60,000 in the Hungarian capital.

"The support of a full stadium is an advantage for the Hungarians, it helped them a lot in the first match," said Deschamps.

Hungary lost 3-0 in against Portugal in their opener but held out until the 84th minute and put on a committed showing in front of a passionate crowd.

"They're a very combative, hard-working and very well organised team. The presence of an Italian coach (Marco Rossi) has a lot to do with that," added Deschamps.

"They're at home, I expect the same kind of performance that they gave against the Portuguese."

Added to the expected red-hot atmosphere will be pitch-side temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius, but Hungary coach Rossi doesn't think that will make the task any harder for the French.

"It would be difficult to play the French if it was 20 degrees... but the heat will be the same for us and the opponents," he said.

"We know they are much better than us, we have to run after the ball more than them, when it is so hot it's not really easy to run after the ball, we have to be in perfect shape and run in a clever way."

Rossi, 56, was realistic about his team's chances against the world champions, whose star-studded team have shown they the skill and experience to challenge for major international tournaments.

"Football is a simple game, if they attack you have to defend," said Rossi.

"We will see how well can we attack when we have the ball, and vice versa, but obviously if one team is worth 900 million euros and we're worth 60 million euros, you will probably see that difference on the pitch."