Enzo Maresca speaks out on decision to make Enzo Fernandez his Chelsea captain after racism row

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has defended his decision to name Enzo Fernandez as captain for the opening-day defeat to Manchester City.

The Blues boss handed the £107million midfielder the armband despite him being at the centre of a racism row in the aftermath of Argentina’s Copa America victory last month.

Fernandez filmed himself singing a racist song about French players who have African heritage alongside his international teammates.

His behaviour was widely condemned, including by fellow Chelsea star Wesley Fofana who labelled the chant as ‘uninhibited racism’.

An investigation was launched by the club following the incident and Fernandez also issued a public apology, saying that ‘those words do not reflect my beliefs or character’.

But Maresca’s choice to make Fernandez skipper in the 2-0 loss at Stamford Bridge yesterday was met with backlash by bemused fans questioning what kind of message it sends.

One user on X, named Ahead of the Curve, wrote: ‘Enzo Fernandez engages in racism. His punishment? Chelsea hands him the captain’s armband.’

When questioned about his captain selection after the game, Maresca was quick to sweep the issue under the carpet.

‘Enzo is one of the captains of this team, he is not the only one,’ he said.

‘We have Reece [James], we have some more captains. The reason why is I can see his teammates recognise him, like a reference, as a captain, and he was already captain in the pre-season when we changed Reece in the game.

‘I said already, all of us make mistakes. It’s important to recognise Enzo made a mistake, recognised the mistake and it’s finished.’

Maresca was also quizzed over the kind of message it sends out but reiterated that he feels the issue has already been resolved.

He added: ‘I don’t know about you, but I did some mistakes in the past and I recognised.

‘As a human being, if you do a mistake and you recognise, you are not going to be punished for life.

‘Enzo did a mistake, recognised. For me, he is one of the references and I have nothing to add.’

Following the racism storm, Fernandez pledged to make a significant donation to an anti-discrimination charity, while Fofana also later said the 23-year-old ‘is not racist’ and had spoken with him about what happened.

Speaking during Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the US, Fofana said: ‘It’s not only Enzo. It’s the Argentinian team.

‘Enzo is in the video but if he was from another country, I would have posted the same thing. For sure, it was a big story because we play in the same team.

‘But now it is done, it’s good. I’m happy with this situation because he understands me, I understand him, he said sorry, I trust him, and that is the most important thing.’

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