France defender Lucas Hernandez is expected to miss the 2024 European Championship after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee.

Hernandez was forced off on the stroke of half-time during Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League semi-final first-leg loss to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday. The 28-year-old appeared to sustain the injury while attempting to prevent Niclas Fullkrug from opening the scoring and received treatment after the goal before briefly playing on.

PSG confirmed on Thursday that Hernandez had undergone an MRI which confirmed the ACL tear and is to have surgery in the next few days.

Hernandez has been capped 37 times by France since his senior debut in 2018 and featured in three of his side’s eight Euro 2024 qualifiers.

Lucas, tu reviendras plus fort encore. Nous sommes tous avec toi. ❤️💙

👊 @LucasHernandez pic.twitter.com/DUGxcSrTTS

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) May 2, 2024

Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konate, Wesley Fofana, Jean-Clair Todibo and William Saliba all also featured at centre-back for France during qualification. Chelsea’s Fofana, though, has missed the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign with his own ACL injury that he sustained in pre-season.

Hernandez was selected in Didier Deschamps’ squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but his tournament was cut short after sustaining a knee ligament injury during his side’s opening group-stage game. He featured in all seven of France’s matches four years earlier as they won the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

France have been drawn alongside Netherlands, Austria and Poland in Group D at Euro 2024. They begin their campaign against Austria in Dusseldorf on June 17.

Hernandez has made 41 appearances in all competitions for PSG this season, helping his side to the Ligue 1 title and into the Champions League semi-finals.

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(Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)