Chelsea midfielder, Enzo Fernadez, and his Argentine teammates have come under fire for their racist chants during their Copa America trophy celebration, Soccernet.ng reports.
The racist chant directed at the French players, which trolled them for having Nigerian mothers and playing for a country they did not originate from, has sparked attention on social media.
Many players around the world are eligible to play for the Super Eagles of Nigeria. However, with dual nationality, they often choose to play for another country where they were born, despite having Nigerian mothers or fathers.
Meanwhile, Lionel Scaloni’s team came off a successful FIFA World Cup triumph in Qatar after winning the Copa America in the previous year.
Lautaro Martinez came off the bench to win the 2024 Copa America tournament for La Albiceleste, scoring the only goal of the game in the 112th minute against Colombia.
During their celebrations on the team bus, former Benfica midfielder, Enzo Fernandez, was on Instagram Live, sharing the team’s moments with fans online.
However, the situation went sour quickly after he and some of the players were singing racist songs, in an attack towards the French players.
France were the nation Argentina defeated in the World Cup final less than two years ago, securing their victory on penalties after Kylian Mbappe scored a late leveller.
After the game, Argentine fans made racist comments towards Mbappe and some of the French players, and it turned out to be the same song Enzo sang during the live video.
Watch the video here:
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Although they sang in Spanish, the translation of the song goes; “Listen, spread the word, they play in France, but they are all from Angola, they are going to run well, they like to sleep with trans people, their mum is Nigerian, their dad is Cameroonian, but on the passport it says French.”
Argentine fans have also been known to mock Kylian Mbappe and his apparent relationship with his previous partner, transgender model – Ines Rau.
Fernandez plays alongside several black French teammates at Chelsea and other players of African and Nigerian descent. Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi, Malo Gusto, Christopher Nkunku, Lesley Ugochukwu, Noni Madueke, and Carney Chukwuemeka, are all players of African descent.
France and Chelsea defender, Wesley Fofana has condemned the Argentina squad chanting about the France team, reposting the video with the words; “Football in 2024: uninhibited racism,” as revealed by Sky Sports.
Chelsea are investigating a video Enzo Fernandez posted on social media which the French Football Federation alleges is racist. The French Football Federation mentioned they will file a legal complaint alleging “racially offensive and discriminatory remarks” were made by Argentina players.
Argentina’s Football Federation has yet to acknowledge the video of their players singing the chant during the celebrations on the bus.
Chelsea and Senegalese striker, Nicolas Jackson, has jumped to Enzo’s defence, posting pictures of their training together, alongside a beautiful moment when the Argentine met Nigerian-American football wunderkind, Tobenna Uchendu, highlighting the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner isn’t one to make intentional racist comments.
Jackson supports Enzo! pic.twitter.com/6F2fH8G2QL
— Pys (@CFCPys) July 17, 2024
Enzo met Tobenna after Chelsea invited the family to watch them train during their pre-season tour at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, in Atlanta, Georgia. Big stars of the team graced the 75,000-capacity stadium as they hosted and had fun with Tobenna, while he also got to train with some of the players.
