Chelsea winger Estevao Willian outshone fellow teenage superstar Lamine Yamal in a sensational 3-0 home win over 10-man Barcelona in the Champions League.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING

Estevao, 18, scored a stunning second goal after Barcelona went down to 10 men – skipper Ronald Araujo sent off for a second booking just before the break.

By then the hosts had taken the lead through an own goal by Barcelona defender Jules Kounde, with substitute Liam Delap completing and scoring and ending an 11-game drought with his first goal of the season.

Yet Estevao stole the limelight from visiting Yamal, also 18, in a contest between arguably the world’s two best teenage attackers.

The headline moment came when the Brazil international skipped past Pau Cubarsi, held off Alejandro Balde and powered his shot past goalkeeper Joan Garcia, while Yamal was then substituted in the 80th minute to jeers from the home crowd.

Two minutes later, manager Enzo Maresca took Estevao off to a standing ovation.

This after Estevao provided the highlight of a memorable night at Stamford Bridge for a Chelsea side missing star forward Cole Palmer through a toe injury.

Chelsea deserved their early lead with a clever short-corner routine involving Estevao, Alejandro Garnacho and Marc Cucurella, which ended when Neto’s flick ricocheted off Kounde into the net for 1-0.

Enzo Fernandez had two set-piece goals ruled out for offside, while Reece James forced two saves from long-range efforts and Neto blazed over when clean through.

Barcelona squandered their best chance of the first half when former Manchester City forward Ferran Torres put a close-range effort wide before being replaced at half-time by Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford.

Yet Rashford couldn’t turn the tide as Estevao made it 2-0 with his solo run and finish, and Delap added a third with a side-footed strike after Fernandez broke the offside trap and squared a pass into the box.

Victory lifted Chelsea into the top eight of the 36-team league phase, meaning they would avoid an extra play-off round in February if they keep their position, with three further matches to play.

There is a quiet confidence about Chelsea this season.

Not since now-injured defender Levi Colwill suggested Chelsea could win either the Champions League or Premier League, after the Club World Cup, has anyone at Stamford Bridge publicly hyped their chances of major silverware this season.

However, despite players being publicly reluctant to talk about such success, it is understood that it is a topic behind the scenes in West London.

The entire point of the heavy investment in this squad—more than £1.5bn over three seasons, albeit offset by substantial player sales—is to win trophies.

The project, known as BlueCo, led by an American consortium featuring Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital, has matured and now features young players capable of reaching world-class level.

There are signs that is happening, with Moises Caicedo and Fernandez starring in midfield and Cucurella among the best left-backs in the world.

Estevao is genuinely one of the most exciting young players in the game, and his five goals have helped Chelsea cope without Cole Palmer, who has been sidelined for more than two months.

A run of five wins and a draw since Chelsea’s last defeat against Sunderland has built serious momentum going into Arsenal’s visit to Stamford Bridge on Sunday – a match pitting first against second in the Premier League, with six points separating the two clubs.

Arsenal may be favourites for the title, but on this form it will be fascinating to see whether Chelsea can put themselves back in the conversation.

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick played down the importance of the defeat.

His side finished with 10 men, winger Raphinha was only fit enough for a substitute role and Rashford had just recovered from a fever after returning from England duty during the November international break.

However, the biggest absentee was arguably star midfielder Pedri, which allowed Chelsea to force mistakes in possession through a high press.

Flick said after the match, “We made some big ball losses – this was the key today. We had some players making unusual mistakes. But I also saw some positive things and we have to work on the other things.

“I am happy Raphinha is back and Marcus [Rashford] is at this level and, as I said, I prefer to look positively.”

As ever, Barcelona will be judged more on the latter stages of this competition and on how they fare against Real Madrid in La Liga, where they trail their rivals by one point.

The new format also gives Barcelona plenty of opportunity to progress, with a favourable run of three remaining Champions League fixtures: home games against Eintracht Frankfurt and Copenhagen, and an away tie at Slavia Prague sandwiched between.

Yet they will likely need to win all three matches to qualify directly and avoid the play-offs.