Shortly before the World Cup starts in Qatar, FC Bayern achieves its big goal and is again first in the Bundesliga. But there is also bad news for the record champions these days: two big stars are threatened with a long break.
The great hero of the evening wasn’t thinking of himself, he was thinking of the tragic hero of the evening. Striker Olivier Giroud had given his French national team a good start to the World Cup, the 36-year-old scoring two goals in the 4-1 win over Australia. They were historic goals, and with 51 goals in the jersey of the “Équipe Tricolore” he is together with Thierry Henry the record goalscorer in his country. But the joy of all that Giroud hid behind his concern for teammate Lucas Hernandez.
After nine minutes, France looked briefly into the Qatari abyss into which Lionel Messi’s Argentine team fell in the afternoon after the sensational 2-1 defeat by Saudi Arabia. France were behind after nine minutes, Craig Goodwin had scored after a fine play for the blatant underdog. It was a move that not only shook “Les Bleus” massively, but also sent painful shock waves to Munich, almost 5500 kilometers away. Lucas Hernandez is under contract there.
The 26-year-old slipped away in a duel with Mathew Leckie immediately before the goal was conceded, got stuck in the grass and twisted his knee. Hernandez immediately fell to the ground, screamed, raised his hand – everyone in the stadium must have known something terrible had happened here. The Bayern star was treated for two minutes, but no chance, the game was over for Hernandez. The World Cup was over for Hernandez. The French association announced during the night that the 26-year-old suffered a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. “Like all the players and staff, I feel very sorry for Lucas,” said national coach Didier Deschamps. “We are losing an important element. Lucas is a warrior and I have no doubt that he will do everything to come back.”
“We knew immediately that it was something worse,” said France captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after the Socceroos game. “It’s a setback, of course, but we’re going to keep going and look forward.” The teammates also looked shocked. “We’re sad about Lucas, we want to dedicate this win to him,” Giroud said after the win against Australia.” Brother Theo came on for the injured Bayern defender. And he initiated the sporting turnaround: Adrien Rabiot headed his cross to equalize a (27th). Giroud made it 2-1 five minutes later, then superstar Kylian Mbappe (68th) and Giroud again (71st) met. They scored against the World Cup curse. For the first time since 2006, since Brazil in Germany, a defending champion won another opening game.
Hernandez’s injury comes as a further shock to Deschamps’ team – the sixth high-profile casualty after Paul Pogba, Karim Benzema, Christopher Nkunku, N’Golo Kante and Presnel Kimpembe. No other top nation faced such problems. It is Hernandez’s fifth serious injury in his career. In 2019 he dragged an inner ligament injury from Madrid (Atletico) to Munich. He was out for 178 days. This was followed by a torn medial ligament in the ankle (88 days off), a meniscus tear (63 days off) and finally a muscle bundle tear (47 days off), which he only got over at the end of October, shortly before the World Cup.
In Munich they will hardly be able to believe their bad luck in this black November. With Hernandez, the second star is now out for a long time. Just before the start of the World Cup, Sadio Mané was injured in a duel with Werder Bremen. At first things didn’t look too bad, but the closer the tournament in Qatar got and the more desperate Senegal feared for their star, the clearer it became that the superstar’s cracked fibula head needed surgery. According to media reports, the 30-year-old is threatened with a break of up to three months. He could miss the duels in the round of 16 of the Champions League with Paris St. Germain.
FC Bayern could actually cope with the loss even better than Senegal. He cried for his injured lion. “It’s a terrible shame – both for Sadio and for the team. It’s a challenge, we miss him,” said national coach Aliou Cisse before the World Cup opener against the Netherlands (0-2): “He’s our best player, our leaders.” Over the years, he had “formed his team around Sadio,” Cisse continued. It is “never easy to replace a player like Sadio”.
And Munich’s worries are far from over with the two personalities Hernandez and Mané. With veteran Thomas Müller, a battered player traveled to Qatar, although he should be able to play against Japan (2 p.m. in the live ticker on ntv.de), in what condition he is after a long break remains unclear until then. In addition, Leroy Sané, who was in good form recently, signed off with knee problems for the opening game.
At least there is a little bit of good news for the record champions: “Thank God the operation during the week went well and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all and express my appreciation,” said Sadio Mané last weekend.
