Chelsea may have suffered a chastening defeat at the hands of Real Madrid on Wednesday night, but there was one major silver lining in the performance of Enzo Fernandez.
The Blues will face an extremely tough task to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League after being beaten 2-0 in the first leg in Madrid. Karim Benzema opened the scoring with a tap-in after Kepa Arrizabalaga had saved from Vinicius Junior before Marco Asensio added a second from the edge of the box.
Things were made harder for the away side when Ben Chilwell was shown a straight red card for a tug on Rodrygo as the last man. Chelsea did create a few openings, with Thibaut Courtois forced into making a good save from Raheem Sterling, but they will face an uphill battle at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
The game was just Frank Lampard’s second in charge since he was appointed as interim manager until the end of the season. In his pre-match press conference he made it clear that he wanted his players to stand up and be counted in the Bernabeu, making specific reference to January signing Fernandez.
"Chelsea brought in some younger players throughout this season. We had to give them a chance at developing into the leaders we want them to be," Lampard said.
"Enzo is becoming a leader, but he's 22, I think it's quite difficult for us to talk about that, he'll have to find his way. Games like tonight are a great chance to perform and show the personality that makes you a proper leader."
HAVE YOUR SAY! What did you make of Enzo Fernandez's performance vs Real Madrid? Comment below.
Fernandez has a great deal of expectation attached to him due to his Premier League record £105million price tag. But so far in his Chelsea career, the Argentina international has never shied away from his duties in midfield – and that characteristic was evident once again in Madrid.
"I always dream to be a leader because when I started, I always wanted to be an example,” he said pre-match. “To be defined like that so young makes me really proud. I always give my best and try to be an example for everyone."
Fernandez earned plenty of praise from Chelsea fans on social media for his display at the Bernabeu. The World Cup winner was heavily involved, completing more passes (79/93), accurate long balls (13/16) and ball recoveries (10) than any other player on the pitch. He also created more chances (2) and won more duels (7) than any Chelsea player.
Those are impressive numbers for a side who played over 30 minutes with 10 men. Nevertheless, Rio Ferdinand felt that Chelsea’s lack of leadership was evident for Real’s crucial second goal, which saw a short corner worked to Asensio to drive a low finish through Wesley Fofana’s legs to score at the near post.
“You need a voice. In that moment, who’s the voice? You need someone to say we’ve gone down to 10 men, that’s a trigger straight away,” he said on BT Sport. “If we’re down to 10 men, who’s where? Who’s on the edge of the box? Where’s the person who got sent off in all of this, in set pieces now?
“It’s [about] having somebody to be able to grasp that in the moment. We’ve seen players for Chelsea in the past do that, Thiago Silva you think would normally be the guy to do that, but today in that moment it didn’t happen and concentration, if it’s not there at all times, you lose games like this.”
