Mauricio Pochettino has stated that he believes that Enzo Fernandez’s celebration after finding the net during Chelsea’s 3-1 win against Aston Villa was the midfielder’s own way of silencing his critics and abusers, following his £107m transfer to Stamford Bridge.
Enzo was arguably the best player on the pitch, as Chelsea bullied their way into the fifth round of this season’s FA Cup tournament.
The Argentine provided the right rhythm for his teammates, and deservedly got a reward for his impressive efforts, after finding the top left corner of Emi Martinez’s post from a free kick in the 54th minute.
After scoring, the Argentine took off his shirt in excitement, and pointed to his name and the Villa Park pitch— a gesture many believed to be his way of reacting to the rumours linking him with an exit from Chelsea just one year after joining them from Benfica.
However, for Pochettino, the celebration was simply his player’s way of responding to the criticism and abuse he’s received from internet users since he made the switch to Chelsea last January.
“Look, today we are living in an era where it is easy to abuse, you know? To the people, to the public people. It’s normal that the players are human, not robots, and it’s so easy today to abuse,” said the 51-year-old.
“I think we need to understand that we are playing football, you know? Of course this type of situation makes us angry, situations that are completely unfair.
“Today, Enzo showed why he’s here and he showed his quality.
“But we didn’t have any doubts about him, or about [Moises] Caicedo or about different players, young players that arrived here with expectation to win titles and to score with every single touch!”
He continued: “He is a world champion player. Look, when he signed one year ago, he arrived after nearly two years with no holidays, no rest, with the pressure, still young, different environment, different language, different culture, a team that needs time to build. All of these types of circumstance, you need time.
“I don’t want to annoy the people. For me, it’s not an excuse. I want to be here because I really believe in the project, I really believe in the player.
“But please, stop to create expectation that does match to the reality and help the players that are here to try and build something.
“Of course, if that happens again, we will be there to help. It does not surprise me because Enzo has the quality, not only to score this type of goal, but to perform in the way today he performed.”