SUMMARY
- Enzo Fernandez scored a stunning free-kick goal in the FA Cup match against Aston Villa, contributing to Chelsea's 3-1 victory.
- Initially, there was confusion on social media about whether Enzo Fernandez's celebration was inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo, given Ronaldo's well-known "I am here" celebration.
It appears as if Enzo Fernandez has been taking lessons from his national team skipper Lionel Messi. Despite their struggles in the Premier League, Chelsea marked a much-needed win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup. Chelsea defeated Aston Villa 3-1 in their 4th round FA Cup clash. However, the talking point of the game was Enzo Fernandez’s goal in the match.
Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson’s goals gave Chelsea a 2-0 within 21 minutes of the match. In the second half, Chelsea received a free kick that Enzo Fernandez stepped up to take. The Argentine star went on to score a sumptuous free-kick that not even his compatriot and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez could stop. After scoring the goal, Fernandez proceeded to take off his shirt and hold it in front of the fans.
Enzo Fernandez doing Ronaldo’s “I am here” celebration after scoring freekick for Chelsea.
You will never see a Portugal player do this for Lionel Messi. pic.twitter.com/mAp51Zjb0A
— CristianoXtra (@CristianoXtra_) February 7, 2024
Fernandez’s celebration immediately brought back to mind the iconic celebrations of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Some fan pages on social media platforms even compared Fernandez’s celebration to Messi and Ronaldo’s. One X (formerly known as Twitter) user, @CristianoXtra_, also shared Fernandez’s post and wrote, “Enzo Fernandez doing Ronaldo’s “I am here” celebration after scoring freekick for Chelsea.”
The post indicated that Fernandez’s celebration was inspired by the Al-Nassr star. However, the confusion was quickly cleared out by the 2022 World Cup winner. Fernandez took to his Facebook account and shared a picture from the match. He also added the caption, “Learning from the GOAT Leo Messi.” Although, unfortunately for the supporters of the Portuguese talisman, Enzo’s update won’t go down well with them.
Cristiano Ronaldo exacted revenge on Lionel Messi by copying his celebration
The celebration that inspired Enzo Fernandez was popularized by Lionel Messi seven years ago. Back in 2017, Messi’s FC Barcelona faced Ronaldo’s Real Madrid in a heated El Clasico clash. It was a must-game win for FC Barcelona to go level with Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. However, it was Real Madrid who drew the first blood with the ex-Madrid midfielder Casemiro scoring the opener.
Moreover, Messi was subjected to some cynical fouls from the Los Blancos defenders and was even left bloodied after being elbowed in the face by Marcelo. However, with a bandage in his mouth to reduce the bleeding, Messi equalized for FC Barcelona. The Catalan giants then went ahead after the former Barcelona star Ivan Rakitic scored from outside the box.
It was then Real Madrid who managed to equalize the game with their former Colombian star James Rodriguez scoring in the 85th minute. However, with just a few seconds left on the clock, Messi managed to score the winner and held up his jersey in front of the Real Madrid supporters while celebrating. Although Ronaldo, who was left distraught after the match, exacted his revenge a few months later.
In the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup, Real Madrid defeated FC Barcelona 3-1. Despite Messi scoring from the spot, it was Ronaldo who had the last laugh. After scoring a wonderful goal right from outside the box, Ronaldo had his moment of revenge. The ex-Real Madrid talisman imitated Messi’s celebration and held his jersey in front of the silenced FC Barcelona fans at Camp Nou.
Was Lionel Messi’s iconic celebration copied from Marcelo?
While most soccer fans believe that it was Lionel Messi who first celebrated by holding up his shirt, he’s not the first soccer star to do so. However, despite Messi and Ronaldo popularizing the celebration, the two modern-generation soccer GOATs weren’t the pioneers of the celebration. It was both Messi and Ronaldo’s former teammates who were one of the first to do so.
Brazilian soccer legend and Messi’s former FC Barcelona teammate Ronaldinho was the first soccer star who celebrated by holding up his shirt. Ronaldinho did the celebration during his stint at PSG more than two decades ago in 2002. It was then copied by another Brazilian icon and ex-Real Madrid star Marcelo who held up his shirt after Real Madrid’s iconic ‘La Decima’ Champions League triumph in 2014.