Lucas Hernandez, 29-year-old defender for Paris Saint-Germain and the French national team, spoke to L’Equipe on Thursday evening after Les Bleus lost to Spain in the semi-finals of the Nations League (5-4). He tried to explain the setback, highlighting his team’s reaction and congratulating 21-year-old striker Rayan Cherki.
Hernandez: “We scored 5 goals we shouldn’t have”.
How did you feel after the match? Frustration? Pride after the reaction?
I think we can be a little proud of the reaction, but it’s mostly disillusionment. I think we had some gaps in the first half, and a small gap in the second too. In games like this, you can feel the difference.
Today, we took 5 goals that we shouldn’t have taken. And when you take that many, it’s complicated to get back into the game. Even if we did everything we could right up to the end of the game. Opposite them, there’s a very good nation. They played their game. They took advantage of the 2-3 gaps to score the 5 goals.
Hernandez “When you take 5 goals, there are defensive faults, in the middle, in attack.”
A flaw in defense or in attacking help?
I think it’s the whole team. When you take 5 goals, there are defensive faults, in the middle, in attack. You certainly didn’t press well. Against an opponent like that, when you leave space, they make differences. We tried everything to come back, but it’s complicated to score 4 goals in such a short space of time. We tried everything.
Was Cherki impressive?
He’s a very good player, with enormous qualities. He made a magnificent entrance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t come back from a goal down. On Sunday, we’ll be playing for 3rd place and we’ll be trying to win it.
