Estevao celebrates his goal for Chelsea against Barcelona
Chelsea thrashed 10-man Barcelona 3-0 in their UEFA Champions League (UCL) encounter at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
An own goal from Jules Kounde and strikes from Estevao Willian and Liam Delap sealed an emphatic victory for the Blues over the Catalans.
The build-up to the match was dominated by comparisons between Estevao and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, who was playing for the first time in an English club.
It was Chelsea’s Brazilian who shone brighter and left the electrifying Stamford Bridge mocking Yamal as an inferior talent to their man.
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Enzo Maresca’s boys exploited Catalans’ defensive high-line exhaustively and had two ruled off for offside within the first 20 minutes.
Seven minutes later, it was a Barcelona player who scored a goal that could not be denied. Marc Cucurella squeezed a cross into the Catalans’ goal area, and a pinball situation led to Kounde bundling the ball into his own net.
Chelsea doubled the lead just 10 minutes after halftime. Estevao dribbled past Pau Cubarsi and shrugged off Alejandro Balde to roof the ball beyond Joan García into the net.
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The thrashing was completed in the 73rd minute when Enzo Fernández put the ball on a plate for Delap to finish after another smart break of Barcelona’s defensive high-line.
