Enzo Fernandez has shown his true colours following Chelsea's 1-0 win over Leicester City. The 24-year-old midfielder led the Blues to victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon, securing three crucial points in the race for Champions League qualification.
Chelsea have now leapfrogged Manchester City and claimed fourth place. After Manchester United held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, the West Londoners are just six points behind the Gunners in second.
That said, just five points separates ninth-placed Newcastle United from Chelsea. Nevertheless, Fernandez marked the weekend's victory with a celebratory post on Instagram, tallying almost one million likes in 24 hours.
The Argentina international uploaded a carousel of pictures, which he captioned with a lion and blue heart emoji. Fernandez snapped a photograph of his family at Stamford Bridge before capturing a few moments from the Blues' win over Leicester City.
Then, on his Instagram story, Fernandez posed for a dressing room selfie with Marc Cucurella, who broke the deadlock against the Foxes, with the caption: "Sauna y frío (Sauna and cold, translated to English?" The Argentine posted again a few moments later, captioning a picture of the team: "+3 ALWAYS TOGETHER [blue heart emoji]."
While Chelsea have struggled to reach the heights they once enjoyed before the new year, Fernandez has been a shining light in Enzo Maresca's starting lineup. Speaking to reporters after the game, the Blues boss was quizzed on his side's result.
"Yeah, very happy," said Maresca. "Very happy. The main reason is because when we prepare the game, we watch as many games as possible. We watched the Leicester games under Ruud [van Nistelrooy], almost all of the games since he arrived and you can imagine how many games.
"They play always a line of four but they arrived here with a line of five and they completely changed their plan. "All the training sessions you have done, they go rubbish. You need a new plan. Before the warm-up, before the players go out, you need to give them a new plan.
"This is why I was so happy because the way the players adapted - that is something you probably struggle to see and understand from the outside - has been top, fantastic; you have to completely change the plan, the way you attack and the way you defend.
"Leicester came here with a line of five. This is something, I said to the players, it is probably the other teams starting to respect us. Copenhagen, three years with the same manager and there was two games with a line of five... we play there, a line of five.
"So, the players have been so good this season in the way they are adapting. I feel really sorry for Leicester because I will always be thankful for them. But the reason why is because of this.
"They come here thinking they can surprise us but the players adapted fantastically and this is the reason why I was so happy."
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Chelsea flag prior the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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