Bayern irritated by FFF stance on injured Lucas

Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has hit out at the French Football Federation (FFF) for calling up Lucas Hernandez despite his injury.

Defender Lucas, who joined the Bundesliga club from Atletico Madrid this year, has not played in Bayern’s last two games due to a knee problem.

But he was named in France’s squad for upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Iceland and Turkey, with Les Bleus joint top of Group H alongside Seno Gunes’ nation.

Bayern’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic insisted Lucas would not be allowed to join up with France, with the club holding the same stance over injured Austria international David Alaba.

The FFF, though, wrote to Bayern informing the club Lucas would still be required to travel to Paris to be examined by France’s medical staff – a measure permitted by FIFA regulations.

France coach Didier Deschamps suggested Lucas would be fit to play for his country, an idea strongly refuted by Rummenigge on Monday.

“I am irritated by the behaviour of the FFF,” he said in a statement on Bayern’s official club website.

“I would like to point out that Lucas Hernandez was not able to play in the Champions League match against Tottenham last Tuesday in London, nor in our Bundesliga match against Hoffenheim on Saturday.”

Here’s our squad to face Iceland and Turkey later this month!  #FiersdetreBleus #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/WPiDVGSwXi

— French Team  (@FrenchTeam) October 3, 2019

Rummenigge said the other three Bayern players named in Deschamps’ squad – Kingsley Coman, Corentin Tolisso and Benjamin Pavard – will all link up with the World Cup winners.

Bayern club doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt added: “I am responsible for the health of Lucas Hernandez and I say: he cannot play in the upcoming matches of the French national team, so a secondment makes no sense.”

France are without Hugo Lloris after the Tottenham captain dislocated his left elbow in a nasty fall during Saturday’s Premier League defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion.