The eagerly-awaited teenage battle of Stamford Bridge was won in emphatic style by Chelsea’s Estevao on Tuesday as he capped a lively display with a fabulous goal in a 3-0 win, as Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal was as anonymous as most of his teammates.
Estevao surged past two defenders before slamming an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net from a tight angle to put Chelsea 2-0 up in the 55th minute of their Champions League tie after an early Barcelona own goal, with Liam Delap adding a deserved third.
Estevao had pushed and probed throughout a one-sided first half that ended with Barcelona reduced to 10 men, shooting wildly with his one good opportunity. But he oozed teenage self-confidence and after his memorable strike, he declared it the best moment of his fledgling career.
“I don’t really have any words to sum up how I’m feeling — the perfect night,” the 18-year-old Brazilian said. “It just happened before I even knew it, I wriggled through. I hope to score many more, it was definitely the most special moment of my career. I am so happy my family were here watching.”
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca did his best to play down the result, and the hype around his teenage star, but could not help but appreciate the goal.
“It’s a big win, especially as it’s Barcelona, but nothing has changed in terms of what team we are and what we can achieve,” he said.
“Estevao had a very good game, not only for the goal, he helped the team with how we were pressing. The goal reminded me of the one he scored against us in the Club World Cup — very similar, the same action,“ he said of Estevao’s effort for Palmeiras in Chelsea’s 2-1 quarter-final victory in July.
As the crowd acclaimed their new hero, Yamal was substituted late on after making absolutely no impact — though he was far from alone in his team on that front.
And when Maresca was asked if Estevao reminded him of Lionel Messi, he was quick to shoot the idea down.
“With him, Lamine, they are so young at 18 that if you start to talk about Messi, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, I think it’s too much pressure for young boys like them,” he said. “At 18, they need to enjoy, they need to arrive at the training ground happy, but when you start to compare them with the Messi or with the Ronaldo, I think it’s too much for them.”
Chelsea were the only English team to win on the night as Pep Guardiola’s much-changed Manchester City went down to their first defeat of the campaign against Bayer Leverkusen while Newcastle United lost in Marseille.
Guardiola shouldered the blame for his team’s shock 2-0 defeat, conceding that his decision to overhaul the starting 11 was a massive misstep.
The City boss made 10 changes from the weekend’s Premier League game, a 2-1 loss at Newcastle, leaving out key figures such as striker Erling Haaland, who has 14 league goals this season.
He was quick to admit the gamble was excessive.
“There were too many changes,” were the first words of Guardiola’s post-match press conference. “I believe that the long season, [games] every two days, three days, two days, three days, everybody has to be involved. But maybe it was too much seeing the result. So it’s the first time in my life I’ve done it, and it was too much. So I realised.”
While defeat shall likely not prove fatal to their hopes of reaching the knockout stages, it was a chastening 100th European match in charge of City for Guardiola.
Slack defending allowed Alex Grimaldo the chance to put the away side in front in the 23rd minute, before Patrik Schick glanced in a second half-an-hour later.
Newcastle could not follow up on their win over City as they lost 2-1 at Olympique de Marseille from a brace by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the first five minutes of the second half.
Borussia Dortmund completed a perfect night for German sides, trouncing 10-man Villarreal 4-0 from Serhou Guirassy’s brace, Karim Adeyemi and Daniel Svensson in a match where Guirassy and Fabio Silva failed to convert penalties for the hosts at the Westfalenstadion.
Dortmund climbed into fourth place with 10 points, ahead of Chelsea and City on goal difference, but the night ended with the top three unchanged. Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Inter Milan — who all have a maximum of 12 points — play on Wednesday.
Barca are down in 15th, with the top eight after the eight games of the league phase automatically moving on to the last 16.
Juventus stole a first victory of the campaign to rise to 21st as they attempt to turn around their campaign.
An injury-time goal by Jonathan David snatched a 3-2 win for the Italian giants in the Arctic Circle against Norway’s Bodo/Glimt.
Sondre Brunstad Fet’s 87th-minute penalty had looked like it had secured a third draw for winless Champions League debutants Bodo until the Canadian bundled home on the rebound of a shot by Kenan Yildiz, who was brought on at halftime and had a hand in all three Juventus goals.
Scott McTominay scored the opening goal as Serie A champions Napoli won 2-0 against Azerbaijan’s Qarabag at home on the fifth anniversary of the death of club icon Diego Maradona.
Jose Mourinho’s Benfica got their first points with a 2-0 success at Ajax in a duel of the two bottom ranked former champions.
Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium won 1-0 away to Galatasaray and Athletic Bilbao played out a goalless stalemate at Slavia Prague.
