Joao Felix was congratulated by one of his Chelsea teammates after marking his AC Milan debut in style with a superb goal in a 3-1 Coppa Italia victory over AS Roma.
The Portuguese forward, who was deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea and loaned to Milan for the remainder of the season on Tuesday, made an immediate impact, scoring just 11 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.
After latching onto Santiago Gimenez's neat through ball, Felix calmly dinked the ball over the onrushing Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar, sealing an emphatic victory for Sergio Conceicao's side.
After the game, Felix took to Instagram to share some photos of him celebrating his debut goal.
"Thank you for the warm welcome, San Siro," he wrote alongside the photos, adding two hearts – one in black and one in red.
New Milan teammates Rafael Leao and Tammy Abraham were among those to congratulate Felix, along with his Chelsea and Portugal teammate Pedro Neto.
Neto, who, like Felix, joined Chelsea in the summer, commented on Felix's post with a fire emoji and a wand emoji – the latter a playful nod to his compatriot's seemingly magical abilities on the ball.
Also on the scoresheet for Milan was former Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, who bagged the Rossoneri’s other two goals on the night.
Abraham, a Chelsea academy graduate who made 82 appearances for the club before being sold to Roma in 2021, is spending the season on loan at Milan.
The Englishman received boos from Roma fans after scoring, which he admitted was painful. “The boos from the Roma fans hurt me, because everyone knows what Roma meant to me," Abraham said after the game, according to One Football. "I didn’t celebrate when I scored. But that’s okay, that’s football.”
Chelsea's loss in Milan's gain
Everything Chelsea says...
Milan fielded four former Chelsea players against Roma—Joao Felix, Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic, and Fikayo Tomori. The club also has ex-Blues midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek in its ranks.
Chelsea’s transfer strategy has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years, with the club spending astronomical sums on unproven players while offloading academy talents like Abraham, Tomori, and Loftus-Cheek, as well as others deemed surplus to requirements, such as Felix and Pulisic.
Milan’s win over Roma, along with the strong performances of these former Chelsea players in recent seasons, highlights those huge flaws in the club’s approach to identifying and retaining talent.
Given Chelsea's performances as of late, all five – Felix, Abraham, Tomori, Pulisic, and Loftus-Cheek – would likely walk straight into Enzo Maresca’s starting line-up without question.
Comments