Stand-in Chelsea boss Calum McFarlane hails Enzo Fernandez after Liam Rosenior snub

Chelsea caretaker boss Calum McFarlane backed Enzo Fernandez after the stand-in skipper sealed an FA Cup final place. Fernandez wore the armband, scored the winner with a back post header and was the hero just weeks after being dropped for the quarter final after flirting with Real Madrid . Argentina star Fernandez has also been at the centre of criticism for recent poor performances under Liam Rosenior while none of the squad have shown any support on social media after he was sacked. McFarlane insisted he had no hesitation in making Fernandez captain with Reece James still out injured as Chelsea reached their 17th FA Cup final when they will face Manchester City next month. McFarlane said: “He's a winner, he's got so much talent, he's got so much fight, he's massive for this group. “And the best thing about Enzo is that he can do a bit of everything, but when it gets tough, you see the fight in him, you see him driving the group on, you see him making tackles, you see him fighting for every loose ball. So he was exceptional today and deserved his Man of the Match. “In terms of making Enzo Fernandez captain, I'm very aware that I'm the interim coach, and Enzo is the vice-captain of this club, so I wasn't hesitant to make him captain, now that Reece James isn't fit to play this game. “I said that to him at the end, I said, 'you like scoring at the back post for me'. And he just laughed. He does that really well, he's done it all year. “It's one of his biggest attributes, that when you attack down the right, his timing of his runs, his ability to actually get good distance and height on his jump and his heading technique is really good.” McFarlane also insisted reaching the FA Cup final can be a game-changer for Chelsea’s season after a run of five straight league defeats under former boss Rosenior. McFarlane added: “Yeah, it was important to get the win. I'm not sure if it was in relation to an FA Cup final or a carrot, I think it was important to break the momentum and the form that we were in. “And I thought we were confident that we would do that today, and I think that completely changes the feel within the group. I think that was probably more important and gives us confidence going into the next five games.” Leeds boss Daniel Farke admitted his players got stage fright after their 53 year wait to reach an FA Cup final went on. It was a hammer blow to the 33,000 Leeds fans at Wembley after a memorable cup run finished with a semi-final defeat to Chelsea. Farke was searingly honest as he said the occasion got to Leeds as they could not take their chances and ended up losing to Fernandez’s first half winner. Farke said: “There's lots of pressure on my players, and they're also not used to playing always on on such a big stage. You could feel it during the weekend. "I think the boys were better in the last games, a bit more composed on the ball. Sometimes in the build up they were a bit too clumsy or not brave, not playing with too many long balls. “We were not played out of park, but it was certainly not our very best day. And for that, yeah, it's disappointing, but for the players, it's a good experience. "Going into a big game now, we will have learned from it, and we can then go with a bit more confidence and less nervousness into the game. “And I think this is more than what we take out of it. We had nothing to lose today, just a lot to win. Upset we didn't win today, but that's what we have to accept. "It was a tight game. They were able to find the back of the net. I think we nearly dominated at least one statistic more shots on target, more expected goals, more big chances missed. But it's also fair to say that the football in the first half we didn't have our best days. “You could feel the boys were a bit too nervous today to be at their free-flowing best and for that we had a few unnecessary loss of the balls and assisted more or less to their two or three chances in the first half.” Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.