On a night when there was the first and fourth runner-up of the 2025 Ballon d’Or, the 2018-19 UEFA midfielder of the season and squad of the season finalist, and the 2020-21/2021-22 European Golden Shoe winner on the pitch, it was an 18-year-old who has only been in Europe for three months and only played his fifth ever European game that stole the show.
Brazilian starlet Estevao outshone Lamine Yamal, Frenkie De Jong and Robert Lewandowski at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night with a venomous shot to double Chelsea’s lead to become only the third teenager to score in his first three Champions League starts after Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.
Speaking before the game, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was full of praise for both Estevao and Lamine Yamal ahead of the showdown, saying, ‘Probably in the next 10, 15 years, Estevao and Lamine Yamal are probably going to be the next Messi and Ronaldo.’
However, in what is expected to be the first of many contests between the two 18-year-olds, it was the Brazilian who had the fans singing, pundits waxing lyrical, and most certainly occupying the front page of most media outlets across Europe and South America after the full-time whistle.
Coming into the game, Maresca knew an area they could exploit was the Barcelona high line, and therefore, by starting Estevao through the middle, it gave the Blues the best possible chance to exploit the spaces left behind.
Superstar
Having seen two of his goals chalked off for offside, Enzo Fernandez would often drop deeper, looking to release a first-time pass in behind the Blaugrana’s high line, which was causing Barcelona some big issues in the first half, with Estevao at the end of some of those passes.
The former Palmeiras wonderkid made three key passes in the match, creating three chances for his teammates, completing two of his five dribble attempts and, of course, scoring the goal.
He also completed 24 of his 28 passes and was constantly a menace inside the box, where he made eight touches and unleashed two shots, with one of those being his ferocious effort at a speed of 64 mph to make it 2-0.
The Brazil international was also very involved in Chelsea’s relentless man-to-man press, winning three of his duels while also pinning Barcelona’s backline when he was on the ball, completing two take-ons and also creating two chances before going off to a standing ovation in the 83rd minute.