LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 30: Enzo Fernandez of Chelsea celebrates the 2-0 victory giving the fans the thumbs up at the full time whistle during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Fulham at Stamford Bridge on August 30, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
Enzo Fernandez scored Chelsea’s penalty in the 2-0 victory against Fulham (MB Media/Getty)
Enzo Maresca believes Enzo Fernandez ‘was not good enough’ in the first half of Chelsea’s 2-0 win against Fulham on Saturday.
Joao Pedro opened the scoring for Chelsea on the stroke of half time before Fernandez sealed the victory from the penalty spot in the second half.
After a poor first-half display, Fernandez was clearly upset and as he headed towards the tunnel for the break the World Cup winner was seen offering his captain’s armband to Chelsea’s fitness coach Marcos Alvarez.
When asked why Fernandez appeared frustrated at half-time, Maresca replied: ‘The answer is, he’s a Club World Cup winner, he’s a World Cup winner.
‘And I think probably he’s the only player in the world to win both titles. And when he’s not good enough, he can recognise. And probably he was upset for that. Because in the first-half I think he was not good enough.
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‘Then in the second-half he was, like the rest, brilliant. So probably the reason why he was not happy is because he can see that he was not good enough.
🚨Enzo Fernandez’s reaction at the half-time whistle was to run to #CFC fitness coach Marcos Alvarez as he appeared to offer him his captain’s armband😡 Fernandez wasn’t happy after Chelsea’s goal, yelling at fans & bench. Andrey Santos had been sent to warm-up before half-time pic.twitter.com/iJ6mf5DgeO
— Kieran Gill (@kierangill_DM) August 30, 2025
‘And in the second half I think he was brilliant. But at the end of the game they were all dancing or celebrating the win. So Enzo was there and he was happy.
‘If you see when we scored with Joao, I immediately left the bench because I was more worried to improve in the second-half. So I came back in the changing room to prepare the tactical board and everything.’
Maresca was also full of praise for Trevoh Chalobah after Chelsea secured their second clean sheet of the season.
‘Since he came back in January he’s doing very well,’ Maresca said.
‘The reason why we achieved what we achieved last season is also because of Trev, in the final against PSG in the Club World Cup he was top.
‘He’s doing very well and we are happy with him.’
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