Lucas François Bernard Hernandez (; born 14 February 1996) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or full-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. He is known for his versatility and defensive prowess. He is the older brother of fellow professional footballer Théo Hernandez, and their father Jean-François Hernandez was also a footballer.
Hernandez started his career with Atlético Madrid, where he made more than 100 competitive appearances, reaching the 2016 UEFA Champions League final. He also won the 2018 Europa League and the Super Cup in the same year. He signed for Bayern in 2019, winning the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and Champions League in his first season as part of a treble. Hernandez joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
A French international since 2018, Hernandez was part of the winning squad at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and also participated at UEFA Euro 2020 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Club career
Atlético Madrid
Born in Marseille while his father Jean-François Hernandez was playing for Marseille, Hernandez moved to Spain at age four (as a result, he would later speak French with a slight Spanish accent), and joined Atlético Madrid's youth setup in 2007 at age 11 from Rayo Majadahonda. On 9 November 2013, while still a junior, he was called up by manager Diego Simeone for a La Liga match against Villarreal, 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 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 L'Hospitalet in the campaign's Copa del Rey. His maiden appearance in the Spanish top level took place on the 21st, when he came on as a late substitute for Guilherme Siqueira 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 took place on 15 March 2016, as he replaced injured Diego Godín for extra time of the round-of-16 tie against PSV (0–0 after 120 minutes, 8–7 penalty shootout win); he entered at the same point in the final, a shootout loss to neighbours Real Madrid in the San Siro 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. He started and played the whole match against French club Marseille. 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 Huesca.
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 Bundesliga 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, Diego Simeone, 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 ... [It hurt] More than [Antoine] Griezmann," who left Atlético at the same time for Barcelona.