Madrid (AFP)

After Mendy and Benzema, it is Lucas Hernandez's turn: the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid ordered on Wednesday the imprisonment of the French international defender of Bayern Munich for a conviction dating back to 2017, a new legal annoyance for the Blues.

World champion with the Blues, Lucas Hernandez was summoned for not having respected a removal measure that had been imposed on him in 2017 after a fight with his companion, and will have to appear Tuesday, October 19 before a court in Madrid so that the committal order is notified to him.

After this hearing, he will have ten days to enter prison "voluntarily".

But, according to the court, the former defender of Atlético de Madrid has already appealed the decision and could avoid jail if his appeal is accepted.

In Spain, prison sentences of less than two years are generally not applied, except in the case of a repeat offense, in which case incarceration is required even if the sentence is very short.

- Arrested at the airport in 2017 -

The first conviction of Lucas Hernandez in this case dates back to February 2017. The defender was then sentenced, like his partner, to 31 days of community service and a deportation order and ban on entering contact for six months for mutual domestic violence.

French Bayern Munich defender Lucas Hernandez during the Bundesliga meeting between Bayern and Eintracht Frankfurt in Munich on October 3, 2021 Christof STACHE AFP

Barely four months later, the player and his partner were arrested at Madrid-Barajas airport as they returned from their honeymoon in the United States, where they were married.

The footballer had been detained a few hours in police custody by the police for not having respected the removal measure, before being released.

Tried for non-compliance with the expulsion measure, he was sentenced in 2019 to six months in prison.

According to the Spanish press, the player's lawyers had pleaded for the replacement of this sentence by community service, but their request was refused, given that Lucas Hernandez had not already completed the 31 days of work of general interest imposed on him in 2017.

His wife, however, had not been arrested at the airport because the deportation order had not yet been officially notified to her.

So she was not at fault.

- Blue worries -

This new legal case could seriously hamper the plans of Bayern Munich and the Blues: operated on a knee at the start of the season, Hernandez did not resume training until the end of August, and did not leave Julian's starting XI. Nagelsmann since the 4-1 victory in Leipzig on September 11.

But if Hernandez does decide to go to his summons, he could be absent for the Munich C1 match in Lisbon against Benfica, scheduled for the next day, October 20.

While most Bayern internationals were entitled to two more days off (Wednesday and Thursday), Hernandez took part in Wednesday's training, where he appeared smiling in club photos alongside compatriot Corentin. Tolisso.

An additional legal problem for the most expensive player in the history of the club and the entire Bundesliga, transferred from Atlético to Bayern in the summer of 2019 for 80 million EUR.

And one more tile for a player from the France team, while Benjamin Mendy and Karim Benzema await their respective trials.

French defender Benjamin Mendy during the Euro-2020 qualifying match between Albania and France on November 17, 2019 in Tirana FRANCK FIFE AFP / Archives

Mendy, also champion in 2018 with France, is accused of four rapes and sexual assault.

He could be tried from January 24, 2022 by the British justice, which keeps him for the moment in pre-trial detention.

As for Benzema, author of the first of two French goals in the final of the League of Nations on Sunday at San Siro (Milan, Italy), he will appear from October 20 to 22 before the Versailles Criminal Court for "complicity in attempted blackmail "in the context of the sextape affair and the alleged blackmail on the former French international midfielder Mathieu Valbuena.

© 2021 AFP