Chelsea coach Maresca defends decision to make Fernandez captain after racist chant

LONDON (AP) — Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca defended his decision to give midfielder Enzo Fernandez the captain's armband for the team's opening Premier League game of the season despite the Argentina international being filmed singing a racist chant this offseason.

Maresca's first game in charge ended Sunday with a 2-0 loss to Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, but many of the post-game questions focused on Fernandez and Raheem Sterling, who had expressed his dissatisfaction with being left out of the matchday squad completely.

Fernandez captained the team in the place of the injured Reece James, even after he was criticized by Chelsea teammate Wesley Fofana for posting a video on social media showing him and other Argentina players appearing to sing about French players with African heritage after their Copa America title win.

Fofana, who is French and also started Sunday's match for Chelsea, had referred to the Argentina players' chant as “uninhibited racism." The French Football Federation also filed a complaint to FIFA.

But Maresca said Fernandez — who reportedly apologized to his teammates — had acknowledged he made a mistake and that it was time to move on.

“The reason why (he was captain) is because I can see that his teammates, they recognize him like a reference, like a captain,” the Italian said. “I don't know about you but I did mistakes in the past, and I recognized (it). And I think as a human being if you did a mistake and you recognize (it), you are not going to be punished your whole life.”

Like other Premier League games this opening weekend, it began with all players taking a knee before kickoff to highlight the ongoing fight against racism in soccer.

Maresca also downplayed a statement sent out by Sterling's representatives saying they wanted “clarity” about the winger's future at the club after he didn't even make the bench against City. Chelsea bloated its already large squad even further by bringing in nine new players in the offseason, none of which started the season opener.

“It was a technical decision, no more than that,” Maresca said about Sterling being left out. "In the next day, we will clarify in case we need to. ___

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