The jeers when Lamine Yamal trudged off with 10 minutes left said it all. It was billed as an epic showdown between two of the best young players in the world but in the end it was barely a contest. Lamine Yamal was shoved to the margins by Marc Cucurella, who could not have done a better job in neutralising the Barcelona winger, and was powerless to stop himself being left in the shade by Chelsea’s boy from Brazil.
This will go down as the night when Estêvão Willian proved that he is the real deal. There have been flashes from the 18-year-old Brazilian since he joined Chelsea from Palmeiras for £52m last summer but nothing quite on this level.
Estêvão, who is only three months older than Lamine Yamal, delighted in tearing Barça to shreds. He left Pau Cubarsí and Alejandro Balde with twisted blood on his way to scoring an outrageous solo goal, confirming that Chelsea have added something very special to their array of young talents.
No wonder Enzo Maresca did not hesitate to start Estêvão against the champions of La Liga. Barça could not handle him and they could not deal with Chelsea’s power. Hansi Flick’s side lost their captain, Ronald Araújo to a red card, before half-time, and were well beaten. Chelsea, who moved into the top eight of the Champions League standings, go into Sunday’s match with Arsenal in fine fettle.
