Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca defends the choice of captain Enzo Fernández

Chelsea Head coach Enzo Maresca defended his decision to appoint Enzo Fernández as captain just one month after being elected. Argentina Midfielder released a video with a allegedly racist slogans.

Fernández wore the captain’s armband in Chelsea’s defeat 2:0 from Manchester City in their Premier League Opening game on Sunday at Stamford Bridge.

The 22-year-old, who also took a knee before kick-off as part of the Premier League’s ongoing anti-discrimination campaign, had to apologise after uploading a video in which he complained about the origins of some France Players after Argentina’s victory over Colombia in the final of the Copa América last month.

Chelsea teammate Wesley Fofana described the video at the time as “inhibited racism”, but later insisted that Fernández was not a racist and accepted his apology.

The club has closed its own investigation, but FIFA is continuing its own investigation.

Fernández was regularly captain of the team Reece James‘ absence against Club America in pre-season and Maresca said: “Enzo is one of the captains of this team, he is not the only one. We have Reece (James), we have some other captains.

“The reason for this is I see that his teammates recognize himas a reference, as captain, and he was already captain in pre-season when we substituted Reece in the game.

“We all make mistakes. It’s important to recognize that Enzo made a mistake, recognized the mistake, and that’s the end of it.”

“I don’t know about you, but I have made some mistakes in the past and I have recognized them. As a human being, when you make a mistake and you recognize it, you are not punished for it for life. Enzo made a mistake and you recognized it. For me, he is a reference and I have nothing to add.”