It just had to be Enzo Fernández. No player embodied Liam Rosenior's hapless three-month reign as Chelsea manager like the Argentina midfielder, so it should be no surprise that he turned match winner and inspiration to take the club to the FA Cup final.
A case of one manager's villain and another manager's hero, Fernández's first-half goal will take interim coach Calum McFarlane to the cup final.
"The most impressive thing about [Fernández] is that he's a fighter," McFarlane said. "You don't have to have the perfect game plan in those moments; he will run and compete and that is often the deciding factor."
Rosenior, fired Wednesday after a mere 106 days in charge at Stamford Bridge, might have a wry smile at that suggestion.
Who knows whether he tuned in to watch his former team overcome Leeds United in the semifinal to book a clash against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City next month, but if he did, he didn't recognize the performances of several of his old players during their 1-0 Wembley victory.
No. 1 on that list would have been Enzo, the £106 million World Cup-winning midfielder who personifies all the potential of Chelsea's hugely expensive squad, but also its frustrations. He's hot one minute, cold the next and disinterested whenever the going gets a little too tough.
Rosenior was never able to change that narrative, and nobody will have exasperated him more than Fernández -- a player whose positive qualities have led to speculation linking him with a summer move to Real Madrid or City.
The former Benfica star rarely looked like a Madrid or City player under Rosenior, but he did against Leeds in Chelsea's first game since former under-21 coach McFarlane was put in interim charge three days ago.
The fact that Rosenior suspended Fernández for two games -- against Port Vale and City -- due to comments made about a move to Madrid, as well as critical observations relating to Enzo Maresca's dismissal as coach in January, only highlighted his inability to get the best out of his star midfielder.
But just like several of his teammates, Fernández also failed Rosenior with his performances and attitude.
A five-game Premier League losing streak, without a goal being scored, has all but ended Chelsea's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, and it ultimately cost Rosenior his job, but Fernández, Cole Palmer, Marc Cucurella, João Pedro and goalkeeper Robert Sánchez played their part in extending that miserable run.
That sequence displayed the worst of Chelsea -- the petulance, inexperience and lack of team cohesion -- but they remain a squad of extremely talented players, and they finally showed that against Leeds.
Nobody was more influential than Fernández. His 23rd-minute goal -- a header from Pedro Neto's cross -- was enough to win the game despite Sanchez having to make three crucial saves to keep Leeds out, but his performance was about much more than that.
Enzo Fernández scores to put Chelsea on the board
Fernández controlled the midfield with his ability on the ball but also his tenacity. He wore the captain's armband and played like the leader on the pitch that Rosenior's team desperately lacked.
But Fernández was there all the time -- other than those two suspension games -- for Rosenior and conspicuously didn't lead that version of the side like he led this one.
McFarlane might have been the "boss" shouting instructions from the touchline, but it was Fernández who was in charge.
Nothing summed that up more than the moment in the second half when he instructed goalkeeper Sanchez to go down for treatment so that the Chelsea team could regroup and adapt their tactics following Leeds coach Daniel Farke's halftime switch from a back three to a back four.
Fernández identified the difficulties his team was having in adjusting to the new Leeds formation, so he took charge of the situation as a player of his caliber should. But again, Rosenior will wonder where that player was during his brief spell as coach.
Chelsea's owners, BlueCo, and their five -- yes, five! -- sporting directors decided to remove Rosenior last week in a desperate attempt to salvage something from their season, so reaching the FA Cup final will be seen as justifying the change.
Whether they will prove a match for Guardiola's City, who are chasing a domestic treble, is another question, but it will be an occasion that Chelsea's players will embrace.
For all of their shortcomings, they are still a team that can rise to the occasion, and this is the same group of players that defeated Paris Saint-Germain to win the FIFA Club World Cup last summer.
If they are "up for it," Chelsea are a match for any opponent, but the big question mark over this group of players is: When they will show up, and when won't they?
They showed up against Leeds, led by Fernández, so Guardiola will be worried about facing this version of Chelsea in the final.
But if the egos take over again and the players tune out, Chelsea will be rolled over by City.
It's up to McFarlane to ensure the players show the best of themselves, but as Rosenior found out to his cost, making that happen is much more difficult than it should be.
