Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca defended his decision to name Enzo Fernandez captain amid controversy over his discriminatory behavior last month.
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Alleged discriminatory behavoir
Fernandez wore the armband in Chelsea’s 2-0 loss to Manchester City in their Premier League opener at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The 22-year-old drew a lot of lack for mocking the heritage of Les Bleus in an Instagram Live video following Argentina’s victory in last month’s Copa America final.
Even Fernandez’s teammate, Wesley Fofana, labeled the video as ‘uninhibited racism.’
The Argentine midfielder has since apologized for his actions.
Maresca defends his decision to captain Fernandez
Fernandez stepped in as Chelsea captain, replacing injured right-back Reece James.
Maresca defended his decision to award Fernandez the armband, stating that the midfielder had already acknowledged his mistakes.
“Enzo is one of the captains of this team, he is not the only one. 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 preseason when we changed Reece in the game.”
“All of us make mistakes. It’s important to recognise Enzo did a mistake, recognised the mistake and it’s finished.”
“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, recognise
