Estevão Willian’s start to life at Chelsea has been incredibly impressive, and somehow the 18-year-old winger keeps handling it all with a calmness that feels way beyond his years. On and off the pitch, he seems to move with that kind of quiet confidence you hear older players talk about.
Estevao, who recently scored a goal for Chelsea in the 3-0 win against Barcelona in the Champions League, as reported by Softfootball, was asked in a recent interview posted by Chelsea via their official X account about his early moment in the Champions League against Ajax.
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When Chelsea won a second penalty that night, it was Enzo Fernández who simply handed the ball to the teenager. Cameras caught Estevão kissing the ball before smashing it in a 5-1 win against Ajax, a goal that made him Chelsea’s youngest scorer in the competition.
He laughed when asked about it later, saying the gesture came naturally. His dad always told him the same thing: treat the ball with affection and it’ll do what you want. For him, football is partly technique but also a lot about love. The trust from Enzo meant just as much. Estevão admitted it plainly. It showed belief.
He said:
Yeah, it showed that he believed in me and that he had confidence that I would score the penalty, which means an awful lot to me. It makes me really happy to have the trust of my team-mates here at Chelsea, so it was definitely a big moment for me
Then there’s the topic he could not escape during interviews: that last-minute winner against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. The goal that shook the stadium. He confessed he barely slept afterward, with too much adrenaline running around his head.
He said:
Yeah, it’s spectacular. There was so much emotion, and it was just incredible to experience that explosion of joy from the crowd – to see the fans celebrating right there, so close to the pitch. You realise that the goal was so important to give them something to celebrate at the end of the game. So it was a spectacular moment and very exciting for me.
For a teenager still adapting to English football, Estevão already looks like someone who understands exactly what these moments mean, not just for him, but for the people who watch him every week.
