Lucas François Bernard Hernandez (; born 14 February 1996) is a French professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a left back or

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

for club Bayern Munich and the France national team. Considered one of the best defenders in the world, Hernandez is known for his versatility and defensive prowess. Hernandez started his career with Atlético Madrid where he made more than 100 competitive appearances, reaching the

2016 UEFA Champions League Final The 2016 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, the 61st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion ...

. He also won the 2018 Europa League and the Super Cup in the same year. He signed for Bayern in 2019, winning the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

, and Champions League in his first season as part of a treble. A French international since 2018, Hernandez was part of the winning squad at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and also participated in

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

Club career

Atlético Madrid

Born in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

while his father Jean-François Hernandez was playing for Olympique de Marseille, Hernandez moved to Spain at age four (as a result, he would later speak French with a slight

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

accent), and joined Atlético Madrid's youth setup in 2007 at age 11 from CF Rayo Majadahonda. On 9 November 2013, while still a junior, he was called up by manager

Diego Simeone Diego Pablo Simeone González (; ; born 28 April 1970, nicknamed El Cholo (), is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder; he has been the manager of Atlético Madrid since December 2011. In his cl ...

for a

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

match against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...

, but remained unused in the 1–1 away draw on the following day. Hernandez made his senior debut on 26 April 2014, starting for the reserves in a 0–1 away loss against

Real Sociedad B Real Sociedad de Fútbol "B" (also known as Sanse) is a Spanish football team based in San Sebastián, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1955, it is the reserve team of Real Sociedad and plays in Primera Federación ...

in the Segunda División B. He appeared in three further matches during the season, as they narrowly avoided relegation; he also signed a new deal with the club in June, running until 2018. Hernandez made his first-team debut on 3 December 2014, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–0 away success over

CE L'Hospitalet Centre d'Esports l'Hospitalet is a Spanish football team based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1957 it currently plays in Tercera División RFEF - Group 5, holding home games at Estadi Municipa ...

in the campaign's

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

. His maiden appearance in the Spanish top level took place on the 21st, when he came on as a late substitute for

Guilherme Siqueira Guilherme Madalena Siqueira (; born 28 April 1986) is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a left back. Siqueira started his senior career at Udinese in Italy before moving to Granada in Spain, where he was finally able to establish ...

in a 4–1 away win against Athletic Bilbao.

2015–16 season

On 10 August 2015, Hernandez renewed his contract until 2019 and was definitively promoted to the main squad. His maiden appearance in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

took place on 15 March 2016, as he replaced injured

Diego Godín Diego Roberto Godín Leal (born 16 February 1986) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Argentine Primera División club Vélez Sarsfield and captains the Uruguay national team. Regarded as one of the best ...

for extra time of the round-of-16 tie against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

(0–0 after 120 minutes, 8–7

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

win); he entered at the same point in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, a shootout loss to neighbours Real Madrid in the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums i ...

on 28 May.

2016–17 season

On 6 August 2016, Hernandez signed a contract extension with Atlético until 30 June 2020. He played a more important role for Atlético during the 2016-17 season. Hernandez played in 22 matches in all competitions during the season. He was in the starting lineup in 20 of these matches.

2017–18 season

During the 2017-18 season, Hernandez was a key member of the team as he played in 44 matches in all competitions. Atlético reached the

2018 UEFA Europa League Final The 2018 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Eu ...

. He started and played the whole match against French club

. Atlético won the match 3-0 and Hernandez won his first international trophy.

2018–19 season

Hernandez scored his first goal as a professional on 19 January 2019, in a 3–0 away defeat of

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded on 29 March 1960, SD Huesca plays in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in ...

. On 27 March 2019, Atlético confirmed that Hernandez would leave the club in the summer of 2019. Atlético confirmed they offered Hernandez a contract extension, but he decided to sign for

club Bayern Munich. Atlético said that the German club activated Hernandez's release clause of €80 million. During the medical examination by Bayern Munich medical staff, a damage to the medial collateral ligament in Hernandez's right knee was found. The injury required a surgical repair. On 28 March 2019, Hernandez had a successful operation on his right knee. The operation ended Hernandez's season with Atlético. Hernandez played in 14 La Liga matches and scored one goal. In all competitions, he played in 22 matches and scored one goal. On 12 October 2019, Hernandez's former coach at Atlético,

, said in an interview with '' Marca'' that the left back's departure to Bayern had hurt Atlético a great deal: "The exit that hurt us the most was Lucas, who was a boy from the academy ... t hurtMore than ntoine Griezmann," who left Atlético at the same time for

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Bayern Munich

On 27 March 2019, Bayern Munich announced that Hernandez would join the club on 1 July 2019 for a club record (and Bundesliga record) fee of €80 million, signing a five-year contract lasting until 2024. He made his debut for Bayern on 10 August in a first round match against

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

in the

as an 89th-minute substitute. On 23 August 2020, along with his Bayern Munich teammates, Hernandez became a Champions League winner. On 3 November 2020, Hernandez scored his first goal for Bayern Munich in a 6–2 away win over Red Bull Salzburg in the

2020–21 UEFA Champions League The 2020–21 UEFA Champions League was the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Chelsea defea ...

International career

Hernandez earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for France on 6 March 2012, playing the full 90 minutes for the under-16 team in 1–1 friendly draw against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

at Coverciano. In 2014, he also appeared with the under-18 and under-19 sides. The following year, he was selected for

2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 14th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (64th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual European youth football competition contested by the men's under-1 ...

Team of the Tournament for his performances. In March 2018, Hernandez was called up to the senior team by manager

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, ...

for friendlies with Colombia and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. He made his debut against the former, replacing

Lucas Digne Lucas Digne (; born 20 July 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Aston Villa and the France national team. Digne began his career at Lille before joining Paris Saint-Germain in 2013. After spending a sea ...

for the last 14 minutes of the 2–3 loss in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Hernandez was selected for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He made his debut in the competition on 16 June, playing the entire 2–1 group stage win against Australia; he featured in all of the matches for the eventual champions, playing for the full 90 minutes in six of France's seven matches on their way to winning the tournament. In October 2021, ahead of the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

semi-finals against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, Lucas for the first time received a call-up to the national team from

together with his brother

Theo Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

; the two were later fielded in the 3–4–1–2 formation as a left center back and a left wingback, respectively, making it the first time they played together in a senior competitive game, which turned out to be a 3–2 comeback victory for France, with Theo scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute. Hernandez was selected for France's squad ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup but suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) 13 minutes into the first group match against Australia and was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the tournament. His younger brother Theo Hernandez substituted into the match for him after the injury and played out the remainder of France's World Cup 2022 run in his stead.

Personal life

Hernandez's father, Jean-François, was also a footballer who played as a centre back. Of Spanish descent, he also played for Atlético Madrid; Hernandez's younger brother,

, was also raised at the club, and played in the same position. In an interview with ''Marca'' in October 2018, he stated that his family had not heard from their father for 12 or 13 years. In 2022, French newspaper ''

L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor w ...

'' found that Jean-François – who went missing in 2004 – was living in Thailand, and had allegedly been legally blocked by his ex-partner from seeing their children. On 3 February 2017, Hernandez was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend, who was also summoned to appear in court. Both Hernandez and his girlfriend, Amelia Llorente, were sentenced to 31 days of community service, while Hernandez was also served with a restraining order preventing him from being within 500 metres of Llorente. Hernandez was arrested again in June of the same year for violating the restraining order after he and Llorente landed together in Madrid, returning from their honeymoon. For this violation, on 13 October 2021, Hernandez was sentenced to six-months in prison by a Spanish court; Hernandez successfully appealed his sentence and was instead given a four year suspended sentence and ordered to pay a €96,000 fine.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Atlético Madrid *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

: 2017–18 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

runner-up: 2015–16 Bayern Munich *

: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 *

: 2019–20 * DFL-Supercup:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

* UEFA Champions League: 2019–20 * UEFA Super Cup:

* FIFA Club World Cup:

France *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

; runner-up:

: 2020–21 Individual *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

Team of the Tournament: 2015 Orders * Knight of the Legion of Honour: 2018

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Bayern Munich website * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Lucas 1996 births Living people French people of Spanish descent Footballers from Marseille French footballers Association football defenders Atlético Madrid B players Atlético Madrid footballers FC Bayern Munich footballers Segunda División B players La Liga players Bundesliga players UEFA Champions League winning players France youth international footballers France under-21 international footballers France international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in Germany FIFA World Cup-winning players UEFA Nations League-winning players Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Association football people awarded knighthoods