France left-back Lucas Hernandez will miss the rest of the FIFA World Cup and faces a long lay-off after tests confirmed he suffered a cruciate ligament rupture during last night’s victory over Australia Hernandez sustained the injury in the lead-up to Australia’s ninth-minute goal, twisting his knee as he tried to challenge Matthew Leckie who crossed for Craig Goodwin to score. He left the field in obvious distress and was replaced by his brother Theo.
France coach Didier Deschamps said immediately after the match that “I think it’s quite serious” and he expressed his dismay this morning as the French Football Federation confirmed the scale of the injury. “Like the rest of the group I am extremely sorry for Lucas. We lose an important element. Lucas is a warrior and I have no doubt he will do everything to come back 100 per cent fit again.”
Victime d'une rupture du ligament croisé antérieur du genou droit, @LucasHernandez doit renoncer au Mondial.
Tout le groupe lui souhaite le meilleur rétablissement possible 💙#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/TIgHi3qOPJ
— Equipe de France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) November 23, 2022
The defending champions came from behind to win last night’s match 4-1 with Olivier Giroud scoring twice and Adrien Rabiot and Kylian Mbappe also finding the net. Yet the loss of Hernandez marks another setback for Deschamps who went into the tournament missing injured players such as Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Christophe Nkunku.
With Manchester United defender Raphael Varane not yet fully fit, the France defence for their Group D opener featured two centre-backs, Ibrahima Konate and Dayot Upamecano, who had nine caps each prior to the tournament and had not played together for France before.
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