France captain Hugo Lloris has claimed that his team have "grown" since losing to Germany in the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup.

Mats Hummels scored the only goal of the match as Germany overcame France on their way to winning the biggest prize in international football, and the two sides will clash once again in the semi-finals of Euro 2016 on Thursday night.

Lloris has insisted that France 'lost to the better side' in Brazil, but has backed the tournament hosts to overcame Germany at the European Championships to advance to Sunday's final.

"There are always lessons to be learned from defeats, as there are [from] victories. It's not just the quarter-final defeat that allowed us to grow, it was the World Cup in general but we came up against a better side on the day, a more experienced team at the time and they succeeded," Lloris told reporters.

"But I think our team has grown, we've acquired experience, the players that were involved have stepped up at their clubs and have become more important in the France team. Things are going in the right direction but the only thing that matters is what happens on the pitch and we'll find out about that tomorrow."

The first semi-final will be contested between Portugal and Wales on Wednesday night.

Written by
Matt Law