Last Sunday, in the early hours of Monday morning, as Argentina's players were celebrating their 16th Copa America victory, a video of Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez was uploaded to social media. 

Born in San Martin (province of Buenos Aires), Fernandez began singing a football chant that became famous during the Qatar 2022 World Cup, although it was not widely sung by Argentine fans, as a jibe at France and, in particular, Mbappé, who had previously stated that theSouth Americans were far behind the Europeans in their ability to win a World Cup.

The Argentine "football chant", where such jokes between fans and even friends are commonplace (cultural aspects of a country that lives and breathes football like few others in the world), reached the Argentine celebrations and was deemed discriminatory by the French.

Quite apart from the valid reasons the French have for feeling insulted and not liking to be called Africans (given that most of their players are of African descent), Fernandez quickly issued a public apology, admitting it was a mistake to have sung the song when he had no intention of offending or discriminating against anyone.

Double Olympic gold medallist (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008) and former Barcelona and River player Javier Mascherano echoed similar sentiments. He said: "Argentines, if there's one thing we're not, it's racists, far from it.

"I know Enzo, he's a great guy. He doesn't have any problems like that," insisted the Santa Fe coach at Argentina's pre-Olympic training base in north-western France.

"As part of a celebration, you can often take part of a video and take it out of context," explained the national coach, who will make his debut in the thirty-third modern Olympic Games against Morocco next Wednesday at 10:00 (local time).

"If there's one thing we are as a country, it's a totally inclusive country. People from all over the world live in Argentina and we treat them the way they should be treated," the former Liverpool player concluded.

FIFA announced on Wednesday that it was launching an investigation into the chant. "FIFA strongly condemns any form of discrimination by anyone, including players, fans and officials," said a spokesman for world football's governing body.

Chelsea have also launched an internal disciplinary procedure against Fernandez over the incident.

Mascherano also spoke of a "cultural" misunderstanding. "Sometimes you have to understand the culture of each country and sometimes what we see as a joke can be misinterpreted elsewhere, 'El Jefecito' explained.

"Enzo also apologised on social media. Sometimes people try to make things much bigger than they are". Argentina's vice-president, Victoria Villarruel, and the office of the president of the Argentine Republic, Javier Milei, also took a defensive stance towards the player.

The President's office said in a statement on social media platform X that "no government can tell the Argentine national team, world champions and two-time winners of the Copa America, or any other citizen, what to say, think or do," following the dismissal of Julio Garro from his post as the country's undersecretary of sport. 

Garro had publicly called for captain Lionel Messi to make a public apology in response to French complaints, which did not sit well with Argentina's liberal-libertarian president.

Argentina's vice-president (and president of the senate) went further, criticising France and accusing it of colonialism and hypocrisy. "Argentina is a sovereign and free country. We have never had colonies or second-class citizens. We have never imposed our way of life on anyone. 

"But we will not allow others to do so to us," in a clear reference to France and its colonial policies in Africa, the Americas and Oceania, some of which are still in force today, such as the monetary policy in 14 African countries (CFA franc), which even the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has accused of neo-colonialism.

"Argentina was built with the sweat and courage of indigenous people, Europeans, Creoles and blacks like Remedios del Valle, Sergeant Cabral and Bernardo de Monteagudo. No colonialist country will intimidate us because of a football song or because we tell truths they do not want to admit. Stop pretending to be outraged, hypocrites. 

"Enzo, I support you, Messi, thank you for everything! Argentines, always hold your heads high! Long live Argentine pride!" concluded the lawyer, who took office alongside Milei on 10 December in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the country's history.