Les Bleus of France shot stopper, Hugo Lloris, has urged his teammates to stop the Super Eagles in regulation time to avoid penalty shootouts in Monday’s Round of 16 clash in Brasilia, Brazil.
“Before penalties, there are 90 minutes or more to be played,” Lloris said.
“If we can make a difference in the match before that, it’s better,” he added.
Lloris played down talk that Didier Deschamps’ side are now strong contenders to lift the trophy on July 13.
He warned that Nigeria can still pose a major danger to their World Cup dreams.
“Before the competition, we were never labelled as one of the favourites,” he said.
“It’s true we had some good matches in the group phase but it’s like a new tournament now.
“You need a lot of energy and a lot of concentration at his stage if you want to get through.
“We will need to be focused and this kind of match will be decided on a detail so we will need to be vigilant right until the end.
“Nigerians are very powerful and this will be a physical challenge for us,” he added.
“They have a lot of skill going forward and also have a lot of pace.
“Nigeria will certainly be more accustomed to the conditions than us and I noticed in the Brazil-Chile game that the players were very tired at the end.
“But I prefer when my team plays possession football and sets the pace.”
The hosts, Brazil, defeated their South American brothers, Chile, just as Costa Rica dumped out Greece on penalties to scale through into the quarter finals at the ongoing World Cup.
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