"I don't know what he has against us" - Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez claims Argentina teammate always gets overconfident when facing the Blues
Enzo Fernandez has admitted that Emiliano Martinez gets overconfident when facing Chelsea. The two Argentines clash next week in the FA Cup when the Blues host Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge in the fourth round.
Speaking to ESPN, Fernandez said that he finds the former Arsenal goalkeeper a bit too 'cocky' but is looking forward to facing him in the FA Cup. He added that the attitude is mostly whenever Martinez faces Chelsea:
"Facing Emi on Friday in the FA Cup? He's quite cocky, forget about it. He always gets overconfident with Chelsea. I don't know what he has against us. Haha. But well, hopefully, it'll be a great match, and, obviously, we can win. It'll be special."
The midfielder star also spoke about the rule change that stopped goalkeepers from intimidating their opponents during the penalty shootout (as per GOAL in 2023:
"I saw something (about the rule change), but I didn't read well. I don't know if it's right or wrong, for me it's part of football folklore. ... Now, it's also true that if you have Dibu against you, you want to kill him because he's unbearable.
"He's crazy, idiot. But if you have it against you, it's worse, heh. For me what he does is something natural, but maybe in Europe or other parts of the world they don't like it."
Chelsea beat Preston North End 4-0 in the previous round, while Unai Emery's side won 1-0 over Middlesbrough.
Emiliano Martinez full of praise for Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez
Emiliano Martinez was full of praise for Enzo Fernandez when speaking to TyC Sports last year.
He said (via Albiceleste Talk) that the Chelsea star has a lot of maturity and was key for Argentina winning the FIFA World Cup in 2022.:
"Enzo is a brazen! He had played one friendly with the national team and reached the World Cup as if he had already played 350 games.
"He put the ball in the corner, shot a bicycle. ... He surprised me not only as a player, but as a person. Paredes, De Paul and Gio Lo Celso had done things very well in the middle and were untouchable. A crack!"
Fernandez has had a tough year at Stamford Bridge as they have struggled to get into form. They finished 12th in the league last season and are ninth this campaign after 21 games.