It was a debut to both remember as well as forget for Joao Felix at Chelsea, after he got sent-off against Fulham in the Blues’ dismal 2-1 loss. The Atletico loanee had a bright start with his new side, leading the charge from the front. Felix was a fearless player on the pitch, channeling all his frustration of not playing enough for Atletico in the best possible manner to be a threat to the Fulham defense throughout his time on the pitch.
However, as he was growing more into the game and had gotten the away fans on their toes, Joao Felix pulled a rabbit out of the hat and committed a rash tackle on Fulham’s Kenny Tete in the 58th minute, which earned him a straight red, as well as a three-game ban. The Cottagers were in an elevated mood as they saw the electrified attacker leave the pitch, with their Twitter too trolling the Blues.
Fulham troll Chelsea over their tweet welcoming Joao Felix
Chelsea acquired Joao Felix from Atletico for a remarkable loan fee of £9m, covering his full wages as well until the end of the season. This was a bid by the club’s new owners to provide their manager Graham Potter with more firepower after he lost Raheem Sterling, Armando Broja and Christian Pulisic to long term injuries. Moreover, their £10m summer recruit Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang too has misfired, forcing to invest so heftily on Felix.
However, after a blistering start to his Chelsea spell, where he was right away introduced in the starting eleven by Potter alongside Mason Mount and Kai Havertz, Felix committed a horrendous studs-up tackle on Fulham defender Tete to get sent-off. Felix had racked up stunning numbers in 6 shots, 6 duels won, 4 fouls won, 2 successful dribbles and 1 chance created inside the 58 minutes, before receiving the straight red.
Fulham didn’t hold back their troll game, as they tweeted ‘#AdiosFelix’ [Goodbye Felix] in response to the striker’s red. However, there was more to it, since it was apparently a dig at Chelsea’s welcome tweet for Joao Felix. The Blues’ Twitter admin committed a blunder by tweeting ‘#HolaFelix’, a Spanish greeting to welcome their new signing, whereas he actually is a Portuguese.
However, Chelsea quickly covered for their mistake by deleting the tweet short after, and so did Fulham yesterday, as they too took-off their ‘#AdiosFelix’ tweet within minutes. This was indeed some epic level trolling by the Cottagers who had won the bragging rights after winning the London derby. Former Chelsea winger Willian gave Fulham the lead in the 25th minute, which was cut out by Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly in the 47th minute.
The home side then re-took the lead in the 73rd minute over the ten-men Blues, as an inch-perfect curving cross from Andreas Pareira was headed in by Carlos Vinicius as Chelsea shot-stopper Kepa found himself in no man’s land while attempting to punch away the cross. The Spaniard left the net open in the process as Carlos Vinicius made not mistake in converting the opportunity to give his side all three points and inflict a seventh loss on Chelsea in last ten games.