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The back to back injury woes have left he defending champions reeling as France dealt with yet another major blow after their emphatic victory 4-1 over Australia in the FIFA World Cup encounter on Wednesday (November 23). France defender Lucas Hernandez has been ruled out of the FIFA World Cup 2022 owing to a knee injury during the match against Australia.
Hernandez limped off the pitch after staying on the grass for a couple of minutes holding his right knee after being beaten to the ball by Mathew Leckie, who delivered the cross for Craig Goodwin’s opening goal for Australia. He was substituted by his brother Theo Hernandez.
Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Christopher Nkunku and Karim Benzema are the other big names who have already been ruled out of the FIFA World Cup 2022 owing to injuries.
"Like the whole group, players and staff, I am extremely sorry for Lucas," said France's coach Didier Deschamps.
"We are losing an important element. Lucas is a warrior and I have no doubt that he will do everything possible to return to the game.
“I know him well. Courage, he will have it, that's for sure. On behalf of the group, I wish him the best possible recovery,” he further added.
"It's never good to see one of your team-mates leaving the field in that way," France captain Lloris said after the match. “I believe it's an important injury.”
"He's not the first one, but we have to continue to look forward. Unfortunately we could not count on him, but we have a team with other players that we trust.
"We have to stay together and keep believing, keep our focus on that."
Lloris added: "We have important players left on the side for injuries, but luckily we have a lot of talented players in France, players we can trust, because they have the talent, the mentality and the desire to perform at the highest level.
"We try to create something special inside the team day by day. We try to enjoy the moment, not only on the pitch but also off the pitch.
"We have to take it game by game. Obviously it's a World Cup, there's no easy games and we have to be ready to face difficulties. When we face difficulties, we have to make sure that everybody raises their level."
The previous three holders have exited the World Cup at the group stage, but that sequence appears unlikely to be extended now.
Indeed, France's 4-1 win was the biggest in the first game of a title defence in World Cup history.
"We're obviously pleased with the result and pleased with the performance," Lloris said.
"I believe we had a good start in that game, but unfortunately we conceded that goal. We also lost one of our team-mates in this action by injury.
"But the team stayed calm, and we took control of the game and slowly started to dominate and created chances, then we scored one and two.
"Second half, I think we controlled perfectly. It's a good start."
France lead Group D with three points, two ahead of Tunisia and Denmark, who played out a goalless draw on Tuesday.
