Lucas Michel Mendes was born on 3 July 1990 in Curitiba, Brazil, and began his professional career with Coritiba. A left-footed defender with good composure, he moved to Marseille in 2012 and spent several seasons in Ligue 1, gaining European experience and learning to defend in a more tactical, possession-oriented environment than the one he had known in Brazil.
In 2014 he moved to Qatar with El Jaish, and after the club's merger he became part of the Al-Duhail structure. Later he represented Al-Wakrah and became one of the most respected Brazilian-born defenders in the Qatar Stars League. His long residence and consistent performances eventually made naturalisation and national-team involvement a logical step.
In recent seasons Mendes has remained strongly associated with Al-Wakrah, where his experience, left foot and calm defending have helped organise the back line. Even as he moved into his mid-thirties, he has retained value because he reads danger early, passes securely and gives younger defenders a reference point for positioning.
For Qatar he became a senior international after naturalisation and quickly offered the national team an experienced centre-back option. He was part of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup-winning squad, contributing to a successful title defence after Qatar had already hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup. His arrival added maturity to a defence that already included long-serving local players such as Tarek Salman.
Standing around 1.83 m, Mendes is a left-footed centre-back or left-back whose game is based on positioning, clean distribution and measured aggression. His profile is comparable to a more conservative Gabriel Paulista or a domestic-league version of Daley Blind as a left-sided defender: calm with the ball, tactically useful and experienced enough to manage difficult game states.