Enzo Fernandez made a donation to an anti-discrimination charity following the incident
Chelsea Football Newsletter
Enzo Fernandez says his relationship with his Chelsea team-mates has improved after the fallout which followed his posting a discriminatory video on social media.
After Argentina won the Copa America final last year, Fernandez posted a video to his Instagram singing a racist song.
He faced widespread backlash for the move, with his team-mate Wesley Fofana describing it as “uninhibited racism” before later accepting an apology from the Argentine.
Fernandez has since issued apologies both in public and privately, and made a voluntary donation to an anti-discrimination charity.
He wrote on his social media at the time that there was “no excuse” for his actions, and has now explained in an interview with GiveMeSport that he cut his summer holiday short to meet with his team-mates and personally apologise, a move which was appreciated by the squad.
"It was a tough time, but my team-mates understood me,” Fernandez recalled. “The incident is not typical of who I am.
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"It was a euphoric moment in which I didn't want to hurt anyone. It was just a song that we sing in Argentina as part of 'football folklore', as we call it.
“I’ve always understood my teammates’ position, so the first thing I did was to phone them and tell them I wasn’t going to go on holiday because I wanted to travel back to speak to them in person to tell them what sort of guy I am and about my values.
"I tried to apologise to the squad to show my team-mates that I'm not the type to discriminate or judge others. They understood my message and that's where it all ended."
The scandal was among the first Enzo Maresca had to deal with after joining Chelsea from Leicester. Speaking from the club’s pre-season tour, he dismissed Fernandez’s actions as a “mistake” and later named him the club’s vice captain.
Fernandez added: “The club has always shown faith in me and I’m grateful for that because I was given the captain’s armband at a tough time.
“But that shows a lot about me and what I mean to the club and my teammates who showed faith in me from the start. The support was unwavering, so I’m ever so grateful to them for that.”
The French Football Federation made a formal complaint to Fifa about the video at the time, but Fernandez was not punished by the Premier League, FA, or Uefa as the incident took place under Conmebol’s jurisdiction.
The anti-racism charity ‘Kick It Out’ later criticised the lack of formal punishment faced by Fernandez.