After collecting an entirely needless red card against Benfica in the Champions League, João Pedro will serve his suspension for Chelsea in the competition, ensuring he remains available for this weekend’s Premier League visit from Liverpool.
It wasn’t merely Chelsea’s 1–0 victory over José Mourinho’s visitors that had Enzo Maresca on the brink of celebrating on Tuesday night, but the fact that his side were about to finish the game with 11 players.
In the Blues’ previous two Premier League outings, against Manchester United and Brentford, Robert Sánchez and Trevoh Chalobah’s respective dismissals contributed to Maresca’s side collecting zero points from a possible six.
Sánchez’s scything down of Bryan Mbeumo meant Chelsea were a player down after five minutes at Old Trafford, falling 2–0 behind before Casemiro’s second booking evened up the personnel. Then, at the weekend, Chalobah’s red evolved a 1–0 lead into a 3–1 defeat.
The Blues were almost there on Tuesday night. One of the players on a booking, Facundo Buonanotte, was out of harm’s way, and a drab Champions League contest, highlighted by José Mourinho’s Stamford Bridge return, was nearing its end.
But then Pedro stuck his boot towards the face of Leandro Barreiro in the sixth minute of stoppage time. The absence of contact meant a booking sufficed, but the Brazilian had been carded within a minute of his second-half introduction. Cue red card No. 3 for Chelsea in four games.
