Estêvão makes scoring start to give Chelsea win

Brazilian teen Estêvão gave his new club an early glimpse of his talent, with a goal just 18 minutes into his first appearance in a Chelsea jersey in Friday’s 2-0 preseason win over Bayer Leverkusen at Stamford Bridge.

The 18-year-old was in the right place to calmly slot the ball into the net with his left foot after a shot from Cole Palmer had come back off the crossbar to make a dream start to his Chelsea career a year after first signing for the Premier League club.

Chelsea signed the highly rated midfielder from Palmeiras in July 2024 in a deal that ESPN reported was worth an initial €34 million ($40m) with performance-related add-ons potentially taking the total to a figure in the region of €67m ($78m). He remained at Palmeiras last season before arriving in west London to begin training with his new team this week.

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Estêvão’s previous game had come against Chelsea in the Club World Cup quarterfinals, with Enzo Maresca’s side coming out on top en route to lifting the trophy.

Friday’s game was Chelsea’s first of preseason, less than four weeks after beating Paris Saint-Germain in the final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.

Another recent arrival, João Pedro — who made his debut at the Club World Cup after signing from Brighton — scored Chelsea’s second goal to seal the win in the 90th minute with a low shot into the bottom corner.

As well as Estêvão and Pedro, there were first outings at Stamford Bridge for fellow summer signings Liam Delap, Jorrel Hato and Jamie Gittens.

The latter, on as a substitute in the second half, almost set up Estêvão for his second goal but the Brazil international put his shot wide of the goal.

Chelsea have just one more game in their abbreviated preseason, against AC Milan on Sunday, before beginning their Premier League campaign at home to Crystal Palace a week later.