Joao Felix makes "one minute" claim about his fringe Chelsea role
Today at 11:00 AM
Unleashing Joao Felix against a team almost at the bottom of the entire Football League seems unfair.
Yesterday he was pretty quiet for large parts of the game, but when he decided to turn it on, he showed he was a cut above.
He scored two beauties – the first was more subtle, a low backlift strike along the ground which had such disguised power and was taken so quickly that the keeper couldn't respond it and fizzed low over his line at the near post.
The second was more spectacular – the former Benfica star feinted a defender left and then right to buy a yard of space, then launched the ball across goal, high into the far side netting. It was a moment which made the gulf in class between players on both teams so clear.
Felix insists he's happy and relaxed in reduced role
It would be easy to get frustrated as such a genius player reduced to these rather humiliating cup cameos. But Felix insists that's not how he sees it.
"I try to enjoy every time I'm on the pitch, whether it's one minute, five minutes, or 90 minutes," he said in quotes picked up on the Chelsea website.
"I played 90 minutes and I'm happy with that. I tried to do my best and help the team. The only way to do it is to keep working, and when they need me, I will be there to help the team."
He will need that patience, as he's not getting much Premier League action soon. Enzo Maresca doesn't seem to like bringing him on in games at all. But if he can produce goals like this when he does get his chance, he won't take long to make himself a regular starter.
