Chelsea had to quickly backtrack after sharing a celebratory post of Enzo Fernandez on social media.
Fernandez was the man who kickstarted Argentina’s thrilling come-from-behind victory in the World Cup semi-final over England on Wednesday.
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The midfielder scored a sensational curled effort from outside the box in the 85th minute to cancel out Anthony Gordon’s opener for England.
It sparked joyous scenes among Argentina’s players and fans while England looked crestfallen.
‘The absolute cheek’
Given Fernandez is a Chelsea player, the Blues wanted to celebrate his moment in the spotlight.
A picture of Fernandez with his ears cupped to the crowd was shared across Chelsea’s social media accounts.
But given Chelsea are based in west London, the post unsurprisingly went down like a lead balloon.
One fan wrote: “Seriously. We’re an English football club. Poor from my club. Poor.”
Another said: “The absolute cheek of an English football club to tweet this. Grim.”
A third posted: “Why the f*** are you posting this as an English club when he scored against England.”
Given the reaction from furious Chelsea fans, the club quickly deleted the post.
Enz of the road?
Adding fuel to the fire is the fact Fernandez hasn’t exactly pledged his future to Chelsea.
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The midfielder, who became the Blues’ record signing in January 2023, has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid.
Fernandez hasn’t done much to quash such talk, hinting he would be open to a switch to the Spanish capital.
Real have since come out and issued a statement claiming they have ‘not made any effort, either direct or indirect,’ to sign Fernandez.
Despite their denials, eSPORTY understands Fernandez is Real boss Jose Mourinho’s top target.
However, he won’t come cheap as Chelsea are understood to be demanding £120million for Fernandez.
If Fernandez’s goal and Chelsea’s post wasn’t enough heartbreak for English Blues supporters, there was more to come just minutes later when Lautaro Martinez headed home Lionel Messi’s cross to make it 2-1.
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Despite England throwing on Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney with minutes to spare, the late roll of the dice failed to work for the Three Lions as their hopes of ending a 60-year wait for silverware ended.
As for Fernandez, he now has a World Cup final to look forward to on Sunday when Argentina takes on Spain.
How did other clubs respond?
Other Premier League clubs were far more muted in their posts about Argentina players making the World Cup final.
Man United wrote on X: “Licha and Argentina have reached the FIFA World Cup final
“Commiserations to Kobbie, Marcus and England.”
Tottenham said: “A late victory for Argentina sees Cuti and Marcos progress to the World Cup final.”
Argentina face Spain in Sunday’s World Cup final – with commentary live on eSPORTY.
