Chelsea 2 – 0 Leverkusen

Estevao Willian scored on his debut before Joao Pedro staked his claim for the starting striker spot with a late second as Chelsea beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 in their first pre-season friendly.

Estevao, the 18-year-old Brazilian winger who signed from Palmeiras for £29m, proved why he is so highly rated, keeping his cool to volley in a close-range opener in the 18th minute before dazzling with his quick feet and lightning pace on the right flank and later through the middle.

Liam Delap started up front for Chelsea with fellow striker Nicolas Jackson not in the squad after telling the club he wants to explore his transfer options this summer, but the summer signing had only 13 touches in an underwhelming performance.

His night was compounded when Joao Pedro replaced him midway through the second half and wrapped up the victory with a clinical finish late on.

Estevao epitomised the freshness Chelsea managed to play with, showing no sign of a Club World Cup hangover despite finishing last season just 26 days before this fixture.

They had only returned to training on Monday, yet looked sharper than Erik ten Hag’s Bayer Leverkusen and dominated their visitors, who began pre-season on July 7 and had already played four matches this summer.

Enzo Maresca’s side picked up from where they left off with their flowing football that had dismantled Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final.

Estevao impressed straight away, hugging the right touchline, before turning in after Cole Palmer’s lob had come back off the crossbar.

Delap was then denied by Leverkusen’s Mark Flekken, having side-footed an earlier chance straight at the former Brentford goalkeeper.

Delap’s performance was the only negative for the Blues on the night when they were fortunate to escape a serious injury to Palmer as former Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah caught his left leg with a reckless sliding tackle from behind.

Palmer was already linking nicely with Estevao, who was denied a second late in the first half by a good save from Flekken.

Chelsea fans also caught a glimpse of their latest signing Jorell Hato when he came on at half-time to replace Marc Cucurella at left-back. The £38.5m signing from Ajax looked assured on the ball and fired a shot wide late on.

Josh Acheampong auditioned at centre-back in a bid to replace the injured Levi Colwill, but he was bailed out after falling over the ball by substitute Tosin, who made a crucial block to prevent a Leverkusen equaliser.

Jamie Gittens was another winger and new signing who shone, coming off the bench in the second half and setting up Estevao at the end of a direct dribble.

Joao Pedro, though, had the final say, burying a shot into the bottom left corner with the final kick of the match.

Chelsea face AC Milan on Sunday in their final pre-season fixture before hosting Crystal Palace in their Premier League opener on Sunday August 17, live on Sky Sports.

Maresca: Estevao is fantastic

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca speaking to Channel 5:

“Very happy with the performance, especially after three or four days of training. It is good to start again.

“We have another game Sunday and then it is the official game. We have started like we did not finish.”

On the debut of Estevao: “He is very young. He needs to play and for sure, he is going to help. He is a fantastic player.”

On keeping the entire squad happy: “Not all of them will be happy always. They have to understand they are all good. There will be many rotations.”

On Levi Colwill’s injury: “It is a priority for me, yes. Levi is a fantastic player; what we achieved last season was because of him.

“He played all games and I love him. We are going to miss him. We are trying to find different solutions. We will see [signing a defender].”

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