Chelsea winger Noni Madueke apologised for his foul-mouthed criticism of Wolverhampton after responding to the controversy with a hat-trick in Sunday's 6-2 victory at Molineux.
Madueke posted and then deleted a critical opinion about Wolverhampton just hours before playing in the city, whose industrial heritage includes coal mining and steel production.
Madueke shared his location, which was Wolverhampton, in the post, which read "this place is s**t”.
The 22-year-old later shared: "Damn wrong Instagram account. You lot are too fast.”
Nicolas Jackson responds to his critics with an early goal 😤⚽
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) August 25, 2024
📺 Stream #WOLCHE on DStv: https://t.co/B0jLrQW5cc pic.twitter.com/gMrQDz6Xgm
Silence the tormentors
Madueke was booed by Wolves fans but he silenced his tormentors with a treble and then said sorry for his social media faux pas.
"I just want to apologise to everyone that I might have offended. It is just a human mistake, an accident. It wasn't meant to be out on my socials like that. I'm sure Wolverhampton is a nice town and I'm sorry," he said.
"In terms of the boos I expected it but it is part of the game. You have to be able to play under that sort of pressure.”
Madueke's hat-trick was aided by three assists from Cole Palmer.
Palmer has been nicknamed 'cold' for his ice-cool approach to finishing, especially from the penalty spot.
Madueke said his more emotional style of play made them the perfect combination.
Wolves could have gone ahead with this moment from Cunha 🤏
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) August 25, 2024
Levi Colwill with the vital intervention ⛔
📺 Stream #WOLCHE on DStv: https://t.co/B0jLrQW5cc pic.twitter.com/vDkdpUCKno
'It mixes well’
"It is unbelievable. He is cold and I am fire so it mixes well. He has the ability to always play a pass at the right time," he said.
"I like to get the ball in space, beat people and make things happen, so luckily today it worked.
"The first one was a bit lucky. Second one was all Cole, two brilliant passes. I'm made up for the hat-trick but more made up we won the game.”
Madueke's treble inspired Chelsea's first Premier League win under new boss Enzo Maresca.
Beaten by Manchester City in their league opener last weekend, Chelsea beat Servette in a UEFA Conference League play-off on Thursday, with Madueke on the scoresheet against the Swiss side before his demolition job at Molineux.
"Everyone saw what he did at Leicester last year, he is mad about the details," Madueke said of Maresca's promotion-winning campaign with Leicester.
"Even in the first game against City there were some nice patterns of play but we just couldn't finish it off. It is a great day today, I am happy he has got his first Premier League win for Chelsea.”
Showing the attention to detail that Madueke referenced, Maresca praised his winger's contribution but still found one small fault.
"In the first 10 minutes he had two chances and overall he was very good. The only thing I didn't like from Noni is the free-kick he gave away before half-time and we can avoid that, especially against a team who are good from set-pieces," he said.
"In the first 10 minutes we created two or three chances and scored a goal and then we started to lose the ball, but overall a good performance.
"Absolutely there always things we can improve on. We can learn many things."
AFP