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Atletico Madrid defender Lucas Hernandez appeared in court in Madrid on Tuesday morning to answer domestic abuse charges, while his teammates were already in Germany preparing for their Champions League round-of-16 first leg game at Bayer Leverkusen later the same evening. Lucas, 20, was arrested when police were called to his home at 2 a.m. on Feb. 3, and prosecutors have asked the judge hearing the case to hand down a seven-month jail sentence for his involvement in an incident that saw his partner hospitalised. On Tuesday morning he was photographed arriving early for the court hearing in the Spanish capital, accompanied by his agent Manuel Garcia Quilon. Injuries to fellow defenders Diego Godin and Jose Maria Gimenez have seen Lucas start Atletico's last two La Liga games, and he was named by coach Diego Simeone in a 19 man squad for Tuesday evening's Champions League game. El Pais and other outlets say that Atletico have arranged a private jet to fly the defender from Madrid to Germany in time to feature in the game at the BayArena in Leverkusen. Gimenez was an unused substitute for Atletico's last two outings and trained in Leverkusen with his teammates on Monday evening. Simeone was not asked about the matter at his prematch news conference.
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