He had to grow, move forward and build himself with the burden of the weight of the absence, that of a father, Jean-François Hernandez, ex-player of Marseille, Toulouse and Atlético de Madrid, left without leaving any address in 2001. Upstream of a special number of “Zone Interdite” entitled “Fathers, husbands and icons of football: the Blues with open hearts”, broadcast on M6 Sunday June 6 at 9:05 pm, Lucas Hernandez, one of the champions of the world followed in this report, rewound the thread of his life.
He puts words on his ailments.
Carried by the love and the limitless dedication of his mother, he stepped over obstacles to offer himself a fate in capital letters.
What convinced you to open the doors of your privacy to the cameras of “Zone Interdite”?
LUCAS HERNANDEZ.
Everyone knows the soccer player, much less the man.
I felt the need and the desire to open up a little more to the French.
To tell my story, how I grew up, how I built myself to be where I am today.
It must not have been easy to bring up your family history in this report?
It was not easy, indeed.
But I spoke with my heart.
Since the birth of your son, Martin, in 2018, do you judge your father who abandoned you differently?
Of course.
The arrival of Martin allowed me to achieve a very simple thing.
The most important in my life is my son.
I do everything for him.
I have never understood and I will never understand how mine could have left overnight by abandoning us, my mother, my little brother Théo and me.
No one knows anything about him.
If one day he came back and expressed a desire to see me, I would agree to meet him.
If he wants to give me an explanation and then leave, no problem.
Biologically he is my father, but I will never consider him to be such.
What he has done is irreparable.
A son often maintains close ties with his mother.
With you, it's even more ...
We owe him everything.
She put her life on hold to take care of us.
What we have become is thanks to her.
With Théo and my mom, we are one.
We are inseparable.
There are also my maternal grandparents and my uncle.
I don't have a very large family, but we have strong and unwavering ties.
Read also Bayern-PSG: why Lucas Hernandez struggles to win in Munich
Have the trials of life shaped your character and led you to push your limits on any ground?
I don't know if the two are related.
But, on a field, I am in warrior mode.
I give everything for the team.
I like to fight on each ball, to defend.
I am not cheating.
I never give up.
I am fulfilling myself thus.
It is something innate to me.
My grinta, I have it since I was little and I will keep it until the end of my career.
Among your many tattoos, there is this phrase: "Fight for what you want".
Is it also written in your DNA?
I must have been 16 or 17 when I got this tattoo.
For a simple reason: since I was a child, I have always struggled to get what I want.
If you fight and work, you can have almost anything.
Having the talent without the work is useless.
Working without talent is not enough either.
You have to have a bit of both to be successful in football.
My goal has always been to become professional, I just had that in mind.
Over the years, the dream drew nearer.
I never imagined I would get to where I am today.
I continue to be the same, to achieve the same things.
Because people know what I've done and what I'm doing, and I don't want to disappoint them.
Since your title of world champion, has the outlook of others changed?
I don't think so, but it happens to me, three years later, to be still questioned and thanked in the street for bringing this trophy back to France.
People are kind to us, filled with love.
We have been able to forge relationships with the French.
We gave them emotions.
Does it touch you when your captain, Hugo Lloris, talks about you in the M6 documentary as a great guy?
I think I am someone very open, in sharing.
I go to the others.
I smile, I joke, with an even temper.
I am not a milk soup.
When a beautiful person like Hugo says that about you, how can you not be sensitive to it?
I am very close to him.
On and off the pitch, he is a formidable captain.
When I arrived at the Blues and still today, he spoke to me a lot and helped me.
I will be grateful to him for life.
To read also "We must savor and be proud of it": the secrets of Hugo Lloris before his 100th captaincy with the Blues
If you hadn't been a footballer, you would have liked to become a firefighter, it seems.
Is it the need to help others that would have guided this choice?
I've always had that in mind.
I admire the firefighters.
They are real idols for all people.
They save lives, sometimes at the risk of theirs.
They are at the service of others.
Were you surprised by Aymeric Laporte's choice to join La Roja?
His background is a bit comparable to mine.
He arrived in Bilbao at a very young age.
I can understand his decision.
It belongs to him.
It must be respected.
Could you have made such a decision a few years ago?
Spain gave me everything.
I studied there.
I have my friends there, I met my son's mother there… But when the coach called me and explained that he was thinking of me, I didn't even have to think about it.
I immediately said yes.
I will never have refused France.
The Blues, it was obvious
We continue !!
#Fiersdetrebleus ⚽️🇫🇷 @equipedefrance pic.twitter.com/op9WNI0Po2
- Lucas Hernández (@LucasHernandez) June 2, 2021
What is your next goal as a footballer?
Win the Euro.
I believe in it, we believe in it.
The whole group is calm, motivated.
Everyone is aware of the qualities of this team.
We can't wait to enter the competition.
When you've already won almost everything like you, where do you still get your motivation?
When I wake up in the morning, passion guides my steps.
I won a lot of trophies, but there is still the Euro to go for.
People who might think that I have no more desire, no more goals in football, are wrong.
I do not think I send back this image, but rather that of a competitor.
My loved ones know that I hate to lose.
I want to keep winning, that's the only thing on my mind.
It doesn't matter how.
What we remember is the winner.
You know Karim Benzema well from having faced him in La Liga.
What will he bring to the attack, one of the best of the previous World Cup?
It's a chance to have such a fantastic player with us.
Everyone is aware of it.
He will pass on to us his great experience, his serenity and help us to be even better.
What do the Blues represent for you?
When you are in your club, you do everything you can to shine and perform well in order to join the national team.
And when you're lucky enough to be called, you strip yourself to stay there.
Selection is a bubble in which we like to be.
We are more than a group, a real little family, which I discovered at the World Cup.
We spend special moments together.
This complicity reflects positively on the ground.
When one of us is a little worse, there is always a partner to give 200% and compensate.
You will live in a sanitary bubble for several weeks.
Could this lack of relationship with the outside world weigh on your performance?
We are starting to get used to it. It won't always be easy not to see our families. There may be some complicated parts, but mentally we are ready. We are all professionals. We will be able to cope with it, because we share a common ambition: to continue our beautiful journey together and to win the Euro.
