ENZO Fernandez has broken his silence after being slammed by team-mate Wesley Fofana for "uninhibited racism".
Chelsea launched a probe after Fernandez posted a video on Instagram of himself and his Argentina team-mates chanting a sick discriminatory song.
But the Argentina midfielder has now taken to the same social media platform to issue an apology.
He wrote: "I want to apologise sincerely for a video posted on my Instagram channel during the national team celebrations.
"The song includes highly offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse for these words.
"I stand against discrimination in all forms and apologise for getting caught up in the euphoria of our Copa America celebrations.
"That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my beliefs or my character. I am truly sorry."
The World Cup winners beat Colombia 1-0 in Miami on Sunday to lift their second successive Copa America trophy.
And footage emerged showing celebrating Argentina players singing a racist song on their team bus about the France team following their victory at the Hard Rock Stadium.
The vile chant dates back to the 2022 World Cup when Argentina beat France in the final on penalties.
Appearing on live TV some fans from the South American country sang that France's players were "all from Angola".
And they also targeted Kylian Mbappe with a transphobic chant amid reports surrounding his dating life.
In the latest video, Chelsea star Fernandez and team-mates could clearly be heard singing the part about Angola.
Fofana, 23, who is French and the son of an Ivorian father, took to X to express his frustration with the viral clip as he wrote: "Football in 2024: uninhibited racism".
French FA chiefs are threatening legal action against Argentina over the incident.
The FFF condemned the chant and added: "Faced with the seriousness of these shocking remarks.
"Contrary to the values of sport and human rights, the president of the FFF decided to directly challenge his Argentine counterpart.
"And Fifa to file a legal complaint for insulting remarks of a racial and discriminatory nature."
Chelsea themselves are yet to release a statement.
Fernandez filmed the footage on his phone via Instagram live with the midfielder showing celebrations on the team bus.
But seconds after the vile chant began he switched the recording off.
Chelsea have a number of French players, such as Christopher Nkunku, Malo Gusto, Axel Disasi, Benoit Badiashile and Lesley Ugochukwu.
Several have reportedly unfollowed Fernandez on Instagram.
The Argentina squad contains multiple players from the Premier League, including Lisandro Martinez and Alejando Garnacho of Manchester United, Man City's Julian Alvarez, Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, Tottenham's Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso and Aston Villa keeper Emi Martinez.
It's unclear if any of them were involved in the chanting.
yedmstuyz
1218
stupid Argentines
Zmxjesus
684
Hes only sorry because he got cought
Ybohlim
625
Someone got hurt with the fact... if you are against racism why not play football with your motherland choosing Europe because of money???
ciupruyz
503
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 👄speaks, The song portrays how you Argentines and some Europeans feel about Africans and I hold no fault of you people but the greedy African leaders who always who always think stepping your foot 🦶 outside Africa means you are in paradise and by so doing anything beneficial to an African will be given to the white in exchange of wealth for a personal African leader. So it’s about time an African youth trace back to their root and make things right so the story can change.
miwiklostz
490
stupid Argentines
Stupid people mother fuckers white pigs
cuhcinrstz
435
Argentina is a country that hates Black's, they killed out 99% of black people out of their country.
AzulitaDeCorazon
417
I am not defending the players singing it, they are public figures, they should not behave like that, but Enzo said it himself, in the euphory of the Celebration (2nd after Wc) they got caught up in it and ended singing chants the Argentinians sang for them, He Apologized. But the song itself wasn't even meant to be an insult for the Black community. read it again! Some people make it sound real Racist. It was written by fans after French players and people said France and EUROPE have better football than Latin America. The song says that the players are mostly African descendants but have French citizenship. meaning, if it weren't because of the African community, france, like other teams, wouldn't be half the "better teams in EUROPE". but whoever wants to make it Racist, will. Some just found another thing to vent their hate, envy, Anger and jealousy for Messi and Argentina... is not even a Racism fight.
Kattyranking
379
go fck ur slf enzo ,u fcking racist piece of shit,agentines never liked blacks ,I can't support someone who Hates my brothers,with due respect as a Chelsea die hard fan,I say go fck urself u fool
MilanistaDiavolo
209
Because you didn't watch the Hooligan Diego maradona...and kept witnessing the quadruple international Champion Argentina team. lmao🤣🤣🤣🤣
When I was watching Maradona you were in your father’s sperm
Mizinopyz
181
So are you black or not? Is it that they don’t appreciate that they are black or they are blind to see that. These black players who even nationalize for the European nations always take the criticism when the country doesn’t do well, take Raheem sterling, Saka, and all those players as examples. As Mourinho also rightly said the black players should be proud and nationalize for their mother countries and we would have seen the true definition of Africa but they are here insulting people when they are saying the truth to them. Moreover Enzo wasn’t the only player in the video so why would Chelsea also single him out for saying the truth?
ruybdopryz
185
Why do french people get offended when it's a fact song. the players clearly have African decendency, but have French nationalities... thats what the song is about. It ofends them their roots?! you are African, it's a fact, if you get offended then you are the problem not your root or your skin color. yes Enzo could have avoided that but they clearly werent thinking, they were caught up in the moment....and anyways Enzo apologized publicly. but is funny how people get offended with such things, but then its okay to insult and dinimize players and the entire Latin American communities?! also act Xenofobic against Argentinians just because they won the World cup final. Also lets not forget the way you insulting Messi and Neymar and disrespecting them and their families. you wanna act " rightfully" start by accepting yourselves and respecting others so others would respect you... that sont wouldn't even have existed if you didnt make fun of Argentinians and Latin Americans first.
Quasimare12
135
You ever wonder why you can’t name one black player for Argentina?
Aye aye aye stop it that talk is to high for some people I been sayin it for years since my dad pointed it out for me as a kid u never ever saw a black player playin for Argentina don’t like blacks but black ppl support them n they dislike our type
Fubbdeoprt
8
Hes only sorry because he got cought
exactly they are nothing but a bunch of racist pigs