France manager Didier Deschamps has conceded that Lucas Hernandez appears to have sustained a "serious" injury in Tuesday's 4-1 World Cup 2022 win over Australia in Group D.
The Bayern Munich defender started on the left-hand side of a back four at the Al Janoub Stadium, forcing brother Theo Hernandez to accept a spot on the bench.
However, with only nine minutes on the clock, Hernandez went down clutching his knee after attempting to contain Mathew Leckie, who skipped past the defender and crossed for Craig Goodwin to open the scoring.
Hernandez hit the turf without having made any contact with Leckie and stayed down as teammates gathered around him, but he was able to get to his feet with the help of medical staff.
The 26-year-old limped off the pitch to be replaced by his brother, and Deschamps was not able to provide a positive update on Hernandez's condition after the game.
"We'll see after the tests but it seems rather serious to me," Deschamps told TF1, as Hernandez adds to an ever-growing injury list for France during their World Cup title defence.
Karim Benzema, Christopher Nkunku and Presnel Kimpembe have all pulled out since Deschamps named his squad, with Mike Maignan, Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante also absent.
© Reuters
Despite surprisingly going behind to the Socceroos, France soon found their groove and responded through Adrien Rabiot and Olivier Giroud to turn the game on its head before half time.
Rabiot headed home before turning provider for Giroud to score his 50th goal for Les Bleus, and Kylian Mbappe made it three for France with 68 minutes on the clock.
Just three minutes later, Mbappe crossed for Giroud to power a bullet header beyond Mat Ryan for a historic 51st international goal, which put him level with Thierry Henry at the top of France's scoring charts.
The AC Milan attacker was unable to complete his hat trick and break the record, but he told RMC that he has no intention of stopping until he has surpassed the Arsenal legend.
"It's a great source of pride, I don't intend to stop there. I hope to continue in the competition to help the team to realise our objective. We're taking each match one after the other and looking to improve," Giroud said.
The 36-year-old will endeavour to score a record-breaking 52nd goal for France when the holders meet Denmark in their second World Cup game on Saturday, and they will enter that match at the top of Group D.
Deschamps's side will then round off their group run versus Tunisia on November 30, by which time they may have already sealed qualification for the knockout stages.
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