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Weeks after the incident that seemed capable of fracturing the Chelsea dressing room, one of the stakeholders, Wesley Fofana, has come out to clear the air.
Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana has quelled the tension, after his reaction to racist chants from his teammate, Enzo Fernandez seemed set to strain the relationships in the Blues’ dressing room.
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What happened
Following Argentina's Copa America triumph over Colombia, some of the players went wild in their celebrations in the team bus. In their merry-making, they sang a song that contained lyrics with racist undertones.
“Listen, spread the word. They play in France, but they are all from Angola. How nice it is! They are going to run. They are 'cometravas'* like f***ing Mbappé. Their mom is Nigerian. Their dad, Cameroonian. But in the document... nationality, French.
They faced huge backlash for the song, with fans, players, and even the French football federation reacting to the problematic lyrics.
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His Chelsea teammate, who is also a French player of African origin, Wesley Fofana, was one of the first to react to the video, which led to fears of bad blood in the Blues dressing room next season.
What Fofana said
Ahead of the Chelsea clash against Copa America, Fofana explained that he had met with Enzo Fernandez and explained why he had issues with the lyrics of the song.
He absolved Fernandez of racist allegations, but he said the former Benfica man needed education.
"You see Enzo is back and I’m happy," Fofana said. "We talked together. I explained why I didn’t like the video. He explained. He said sorry because he did not want to hurt French fans or anyone. He did not understand when singing it.
"And I trust him. Because I know him. I know Enzo. He is not racist. It is just the video is bad. It’s not only Enzo. It’s the Argentinian team. Enzo is in the video but if he was from another country, I would have posted the same thing. For sure, it was a big story because we play in the same team.
"But now it is done, it’s good. I'm happy with this situation because he understands me, I understand him, he said sorry, I trust him, and that is the most important thing. Enzo is a big player in Argentina. I hope this has educated him a bit, because for sure, it is a different culture.
"If I’m on one side and Enzo is on the other side and we fight every day or we don't talk or we're not happy, on the pitch then we don’t play well," the former Leicester City defender added. "That's not only me and Enzo. It's all the team. It is for that, that we talked. It’s a good club."
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