Spain almost benefited from French star's 'youthful mistake'

TPO - After the victory over Portugal, the match in which Theo Hernandez successfully scored the decisive penalty, he received a congratulatory message from his brother Lucas. The message was sent in Spanish, the language they both often speak. This detail brought back memories of what the Les Bleus left-back considered “youthful mistakes”.

In 2000, when he was only 3 years old, Theo Hernandez's family moved to Spain. His brothers Theo (born 1997) and Lucas (born 1996) spent their childhood there. The clubs Majadahonda and later Atletico Madrid nurtured their football dreams and trained them.

The Hernandez brothers have spent more time in Spain than in their home country of France. Perhaps that is why they both have certain feelings for Spain.

For Theo Hernandez, that was the reason why he wavered, leading to the "youthful mistake" as he once admitted.

It was 2017. The Hernandez brothers' excellent performances for the youth team and then the first team of Atletico opened the door for them to play for the French national team.

Theo could have been Ferran Torres' teammate

But when he was only 20 years old, Theo Hernandez refused the call-up to prepare for the U20 World Cup, a tournament where France was in the same group with U20 Vietnam with Quang Hai, Tien Dung, Hoang Duc, Tien Linh, Dinh Trong... U20 France was very regretful for missing out on a "young shoot", they had to put their faith in Olivier Boscagli as a replacement, who later failed to improve his career.

Regarding the reason why Theo did not attend the U20 World Cup, Marca reported that Theo Hernandez wanted to move to Spain because he was more attached to this country than France. However, according to Theo Hernandez, he considered his rejection of Les Bleus simply a "mistake of youth".

Theo Hernandez once shared with L'Equipe : "I said from the first moment, I prefer to play for France. I made a mistake when I was young. I also want to say that I was not forced to do it (wear the French national team shirt), but maybe some people are hoping that I will choose the Spanish national team.

Hernandez brothers grew up in Spain but chose the French national team

“I did something stupid back then. Now it’s all history. I’m an adult now and if France calls me back, I’ll be happy.”

Theo made the statement in 2019, shortly after he left Spain to play for AC Milan. Theo himself admitted that the 2018 World Cup of the French national team motivated him: “I played for the French youth team from the U18 level. Even when Spain made things difficult for me and Lucas, he continued to stick with the blue shirt.

His success with Les Blues only reinforced this choice. I was very proud to see him win the world championship. I want to go there, to be an important figure for France one day (laughs)”.

“Someday” is now, when Theo is an irreplaceable factor on the left wing of the French national team. And tomorrow night, in the EURO 2024 semi-final, will he prove that he was right to choose France over Spain?

Dang Lai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/dt-tay-ban-nha-suyt-huong-loi-nho-sai-lam-tuoi-tre-cua-ngoi-sao-phap-post1653268.tpo