French defender Lucas Hernandez was briefly locked up for violating a court order banning him from contacting his girlfriend, the Madrid tribunal said on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Atletico Madrid defender and his girlfriend were each sentenced to 31 hours of community service in February following a violent altercation.

They were also ordered not to see each other for six months.

Hernandez was arrested on Tuesday and held in detention for several hours for having "infringed the protection measures imposed by the Madrid penal court, which has banned him from approaching within 500 metres or entering into communication with Amelia de la O. L.", the Madrid High Court said in a statement.

Hernandez was arrested at the Madrid airport in the company of his girlfriend, who was not arrested as her own restraining order has not yet been ratified.

According to the Onda Cero radio station, the two arrived at the airport after returning from a holiday in the Bahamas.

In February, Hernandez had been arrested after his girlfriend was taken to hospital with minor injuries following a fight between them.

Neither made a complaint against the other but Spain's public prosecutor charged both anyway.

Hernandez's younger brother Theo, 19, has also been in trouble recently.

The highly-rated teenager, who is also an Atletico player but looks set to move to Real Madrid this summer, was cleared last week after a complaint of sexual assault had been made against him.