Valentina Cervantes, the partner of Argentina star Enzo Fernandez, has admitted that her nation’s meeting with England on Wednesday will be ‘strange’ due to their family’s deep ties to their adopted country.
Fernandez joined Chelsea from Benfica in January 2023 for a then-club record fee of £106million, with he and Cervantes relocating their daughter Olivia from Lisbon.
The couple then welcomed son Benjamin while based in England, with Cervantes explaining that his birth was a factor in why the whole family did not participate in one of Argentina’s most notorious anti-English chants.
‘We don’t let him jump when they sing “whoever doesn’t jump is English”,’ Cervantes explained in a video interview with Aire de Santa Fe, naming a celebration that both players and fans alike have been participating in at this year’s World Cup.
‘Olivia also says, “that’s where I live”, they’re children, they speak from an innocent perspective,’ she added.
Stressing that she had ‘zero’ enmity against England ahead of the two arch rivals meeting in Atlanta, Cervantes admitted that for her children the match is ‘strange’.
Argentina WAG Valentina Cervantes has admitted that she will find her team’s clash with England ‘strange’ after building a life in the country
Her comments come after Englishwoman Kelci-Rose Bowers said that she would support her Argentinean partner Marcos Senesi over England
‘We experience it that way too,’ Cervantes continued. ‘It’s the place where we’ve lived for three years, so it’s going to be a very special match.
‘It’s a country that has given us a lot; we have family there.’
Cervantes’ desire not to inflame tensions comes after fellow WAG Kelci-Rose Bowers, who is English, shared that she would be backing Argentina and her partner Marcos Senesi, despite admitting that there would be ‘controversy’ over her decision.
Another member of the Argentina squad’s close relatives shares Cervantes’ perspective – Liverpool star Alexis Mac Allister’s grandmother Silvina Riela, who has lived in the country since her grandson’s 2020 move to Brighton.
‘My granddaughter was born in England,’ she stressed. ‘So when everyone sings, anyone who doesn’t jump is considered English, and I stay seated with her.
Riela also shared that living in England had changed her viewpoint on both the country and its people.
‘What happened to me is that I had a pretty negative image of England in terms of living there, because of the cold and the lack of sun,’ she shared. ‘I used to say, in my ignorance, that we should never have to go to England.
‘But now that I’ve been there, everything has changed. Even the way I see people. I thought I was going to find cold people, but they are very polite and respectful. We have been welcomed by a country that has treated us in the best way.’
Riela did however add that she understood the animosity between England and Argentina in the build-up to their semi-final clash, which runs the gamut between Diego Maradona’s jaw-dropping ‘Hand of God’ goal against the Three Lions at the 1986 World Cup, to the 1982 Falklands War which followed Argentina’s invasion of the islands it calls the Malvinas.
Argentina fans have made the issue of the Falklands central to their World Cup tilt with the widespread use of a song which calls for the players to win ‘for the Malvinas, For Diego, For Leo’s (Messi’s) last one.’
Supporters have already arrived in Atlanta bearing flags with the archipelago printed on them, with the match classified as the ‘highest risk’ match at the World Cup.
Argentina players have been celebrating with anti-English chants and references to the Falkland Islands
Flags bearing their outline have travelled with fans to Atlanta ahead of their semi-final clash
A wide-ranging series of security measures will be implemented in Atlanta, including separate gates for entry for the two sets of supporters – although there will be no segregation inside the stadium.
The FBI, FIFA and police met on Monday, where the historical divide between the two nations and concerns over potential issues between rival supporters was outlined.
While considerable efforts will be made to keep fans apart, there is an acceptance that there is little officials can do inside the stadium thanks to the lack of segregation at FIFA games. Special attention will be paid to concourse areas, where fans are expected to mix.
Videos have already circulated online of disturbances between Argentina and England fans on Saturday. In one, a Three Lions supporter is seen in the stadium trading punches with three men in Argentina shirts, while another clip appeared to show a group of Argentina-shirted followers confronting England fans in a bar.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni has repeatedly attempted to tamp down rising tensions, while Thomas Tuchel said that although players of both countries are ‘very aware of what it means to them’, history would not ‘fuel’ his stars.
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