Hoodie up over his face, Lucas Hernandez paces around his Marbella apartment in Spain. He can barely watch the TV as his younger brother, Theo, steps up to take the deciding penalty against Portugal that could send France to a European Championship semi-final. “Siiiii,” he shouts in Spanish, as Theo’s rocket slams the back of the net.
That evening, Theo FaceTimes Lucas on his phone from the joyous France dressing room in Hamburg. Team-mates Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele pop into vision before Theo holds the camera firmly. “Cojones!” Lucas shouts in Spanish, followed by more expletives, praising his brother’s courage.
The fact that both brothers, born in Marseille, France, but raised in Spain since the age of six, are playing for France is one story. More intriguing of late, however, is that Lucas, sat on the sofa with his partner, should have been in that dressing room.
On May 1, the Paris Saint-Germain player ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Dortmund. “My comeback will be stronger than ever before,” he wrote on Instagram.
“My brother,” Theo replied. “Life is testing you again… You have my full support, I know your mind, you’ll come back stronger than ever!”
Had it not been for his injury, Didier Deschamps would have certainly called up Lucas, along with his brother, to his Euro 2024 squad. It was a cruel turn of fate, not least because 18 months before, he suffered the same injury to his right knee in the first match of the 2022 World Cup against Australia. It was Theo who came off the bench to replace him.
While Theo has been crucial to Les Bleus for the last two major tournaments, his brother, 20 months older, has been completely out of the picture.
Lucas Hernandez after his injury against Australia in 2022 (Elsa/Getty Images)
The Hernandez brothers, unsurprisingly, have a lot in common. Brought up by their mother Laurence Py in Spain following the departure of their father, Jean-Francois Hernandez, who also played professionally for Marseille and Atletico Madrid, both were left-footed and played the same position for the same clubs, first Rayo Majadahonda and then, in 2007, Atletico Madrid — even though initially it was only Theo who was offered a trial.
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“Theo and I always had a football with us: morning, noon and night,” Lucas told Goal and DAZN in 2019. “We played together all the time. My brother is my best friend, we are very close.”
A decade later, however, their paths took different directions. Theo left Atletico for Real Madrid having not played a single minute, while Lucas represented his childhood club for 12 years, making 110 appearances. Lucas left in 2019 to join Bayern Munich for a then club and world-record fee of €80million (£69m; $86m) before signing for PSG in 2023. Theo, meanwhile, stayed in Madrid for two years before moving to Italy, where he is nearing 200 appearances for AC Milan.
Both played for the French national youth teams, although they could have played for Spain. Their family, who welcome them every summer in Haute-Saone, in north east France, encouraged them to represent Les Bleus. It was on these holidays that Lucas developed a passion for fishing, thanks to his grandfather, a hobby which bores Theo.
It is not the only difference. Theo is more fashionable, according to his brother, while Lucas prefers a more classic look and is more relaxed about his haircuts. “Not too many colours. Yellow, blue, pink — no, that’s not for me,” the older brother told Telefoot.
But throughout their family’s difficulties, the brothers have always remained close. “We had some complicated times, we stuck together, whenever he needed me, I was there,” said Lucas, who describes himself as Theo’s “protector”. “Even today, we have a strong bond.”
It was Lucas who tasted success first with the national team, receiving his call-up in March 2018, four months before playing every game as part of the victorious 2018 World Cup squad in Russia. From that point on, his life changed.
“Six months ago, I didn’t even know I would go to the World Cup,” Lucas told Le Parisien in October 2018. “Today, I am world champion and a father. In a few years, when my son is older, I will tell him about this incredible summer.”
However, they still didn’t hear from their father. “It’s been 12-13 years since we last heard from him,” Lucas said in the same interview. “I didn’t hear from him after the World Cup either.”
His brother’s World Cup success moved Theo, though, who was watching from home. “That was one of the most beautiful moments I’ve experienced with him,” he told The Athletic.
It took a little longer for Theo to convince Deschamps he should be part of the national team. In November 2020, despite being in good form for AC Milan, he was not selected. “I don’t understand… And you?” he tweeted in Spanish, followed by a France flag emoji.
Yo no lo entiendo…y tú??🤷♂️🤷♂️🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/Yl0ZEexS36
— Theo Hernandez (@TheoHernandez) October 5, 2020
But Theo’s time came in September 2021 and a month later, for the first time in their professional careers, they addressed the media together in the pre-match press conference of the 2021 Nations League semi-final against Belgium before gracing the field, Lucas at left centre-back and Theo at left wing-back.
Theo scored the winning goal in stoppage time as France came back from 2-0 down to beat Belgium 3-2. “That was one of my best moments of last year,” he told The Athletic. “It was incredible. After waiting for that moment for so long, to want to play with my brother… we had done it before as kids, but it’s not the same as playing with the national team… and winning that title… the truth is, that was a very beautiful experience.”
It looked like the start of a fairytale. “My target is to work hard every day, give the maximum I’ve got to be able to go to the World Cup,” said Theo in that same interview with The Athletic in January 2022. “With my brother as well, the two together… it could be a dream come true.”
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The brothers went on to play three more times together for France and the difference in their style of play was notable. Theo is more of an attacking left-back, while Lucas is more defensive. “Since I was a kid, I like to go into battle,” Lucas told Le Parisien. “I may be weird, but I really like to defend.” That was quite the opposite of Theo who, as a child, was always up front.
While Lucas is a “fighter” and “leader”, Theo is more “shy” and “sensitive”, according to their mother via L’Equipe. “Every match is a battle,” Lucas, an action-film lover and Jason Statham fan, told Le Figaro.
And Lucas has had to fight, especially when the dream came crashing down in the 13th minute of France’s first 2022 World Cup game against Australia.
Yet Theo stepped in to replace him and after that started every game of the tournament, including the 4-3 final defeat against Argentina. His high positioning and interchanges with Kylian Mbappe were devastating on the left wing and he created eight open-play chances, the most of any full-back in the competition.
Theo and Lionel Messi in the World Cup final (Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images)
Having recovered from his first ACL injury, Lucas played with Theo again under Deschamps in three of France’s Euro qualifying games in September, October and November last year. Lucas even started ahead of his brother in a friendly against Germany in March.
“They are two superb people, two guys who are easy to find on the pitch, who never hide, and two enormous weapons for Les Bleus and their respective clubs,” France national team-mate Kingsley Coman told Le Figaro.
But it was just not meant to be. After a second ACL rupture in May, Lucas was ruled out of the Euros. “It’s a really sad situation, his serious injury, but he’s getting better,” said Theo in June. “I speak with him every day. I hope we go as far as possible in this Euros for him.”
Having been operated on by specialist knee surgeons in Innsbruck, Austria, Lucas has — according to one source close to the player who wishes to remain anonymous to protect relations — only one thing on his mind: to recover and compete. He speaks to PSG’s doctors, but also his brother, with whom he maintains regular contact. Deschamps has also spoken to him.
“I know that his heart goes out to us,” said Deschamps on the eve of the semi-final of Euro 2024. “I know he’s going to do everything to get back to his best with us because he’s a fighter. He’s an extremely cheerful person and his joy is infectious. I’m delighted he’ll be there with us tomorrow.”
As Lucas watches from the stands in Munich, there will be a pit in his stomach at the thought that it should have been him lining up in his former club’s stadium, against Spain, a country he is so fond of, singing La Marseillaise, the anthem of the country he loves. The only solace is that his brother will be there to represent him.
(Top photo: Lucas and Theo Hernandez playing for France in 2022; by Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)