As Man United win eases sack pressure, Enzo Fernandez sends strong Mauricio Pochettino message
As Man United win eases sack pressure, Enzo Fernandez sends strong Mauricio Pochettino message
Enzo Fernandez sent clear messages to both Mauricio Pochettino and Mason Mount during Chelsea’s celebrations in the chaotic 4-3 win against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
The visitors appeared to be heading for all three points until Noni Madueke was fouled in the penalty area which allowed Cole Palmer to score his second spot-kick of the game and salvage a point for the Blues. However, with two minutes of additional time still to play, more drama was on the horizon.
From a short corner being taken quickly, Palmer picked up the ball from Fernandez and fired an effort goalward with the ball deflecting past Andre Onana off Scott McTominay. Given Chelsea were heading for defeat just moments prior, jubilation followed with Pochettino showing his emotions on the touchline as he celebrated the last-minute winner.
“Because in the way it happened,” Pochettino explained when asked about the emotions he felt during his full-time celebrations. “It was unfair [if they lost]. The feeling was not so good, because I thought why are we losing the game? But it happened because in football it is like this. In the end, I was keeping believing. We were talking to our players, ‘there’s still two minutes’. We believed we could score the winning goal.
“Yes, so happy because in the end it was emotional. Win the game like this, three points and for us it was a must-win game to reduce the gap to the teams ahead of us. It was so, so, so important, the three points today.” With so much going on in the 60 seconds that followed Palmer completing a stunning hat-trick, it was quite difficult to keep track of everything.
However, one noticeable moment was Fernandez heading straight for Pochettino when the goal went in and knee-sliding in front of his manager. Pochettino has faced significant pressure in recent months but in that moment the 23-year-old made his thoughts on the Chelsea boss perfectly clear.
And for anything not picked up by photographers or TV cameras, thankfully there were thousands in the stands with mobile phones and one captured quite the exchange between Mount and Fernandez.
While Palmer was celebrating with Carney Chukwuemeka and Trevoh Chalobah, Fernandez was captured in the middle of the park speaking to Mount. Given his links to Chelsea and his unsavoury departure, the Argentine midfielder passionately tapped the Chelsea badge directly in front of Mount before walking away whilst still making his displeasure clear.
Chelsea supporters had already sent a blunt message to their academy graduate when he was substituted on while United were leading and Fernandez has now clearly sent his own.
