Joao Felix sent off on Chelsea debut

Joao Felix was sent off on his Chelsea and Premier League debut, as the Blues were reduced to 10 men in the west London derby against Fulham.

Felix's loan until the end of the season was confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, with Graham Potter's side paying a reported £9 million in fees.

Just over 24 hours later the Atletico Madrid forward was thrust straight into his first start for the club, as they took on local rivals Fulham.

The Portuguese forward looked very good early on but had little impact on the game, until he was sent off just before the hour mark.

He went full bloodied into a challenge on right back Kenny Tete, with his studs up, and only made contact with the defender, leaving the referee with little choice but to send him off.

That's a horror tackle 😳

João Félix is shown a straight red on his Chelsea debut... pic.twitter.com/jn3MKtoHwn

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 12, 2023

"After all this time, Joao Felix is finally playing the way Diego Simeone wants him to," Paddy Power joked on social media, with the forward's troubles under the Atleti boss well known.

"Joao Felix can't have any complaints. A reckless challenge. He's been desperate to impress all game, and looked really lively, but on this occasion it was rash and a clear red card. Sad way to end his debut," journalist Ben Jacobs added.

One fan, pointing out that the 23-year-old will now miss games through suspension, laughed, "Chelsea loaning Felix for 20 league games and him automatically missing three of them after his debut is f**king hilarious."

"What a debut. It was one to remember few seconds ago. Now it’s a debut to forget. Joao Felix sees RED in blue," another added.

And another summed up the whole situation, simply saying, "Well that's already a couple million down the drain."

His excellent start to the game had seen Fulham unable to handle his running with the ball and two players picking up yellow cards for challenges on the former Benfica man.

The first moment of the game was also thanks to Felix, whose run into the box in the third minute set up Kai Havertz but neither him or Lewis Hall could put the ball away.

After a tough start, the Cottagers got themselves into the game and the hosts called for a penalty when Carlos Vinicius thought he was brought down in the box, with the referee rightly turning it down.

Bobby Decordova-Reid then hit a thunderous shot against the crossbar, with the ball somehow rebounding to safety, much to the relief of the away side.

Marco Silva's side did take the lead though, when former Chelsea man Willian cut in from the left and his shot took a huge deflection off Trevoh Chalobah and into the goal, with the Brazilian refusing to celebrate against his ex club.

The Blues did get level early in the second half, with Kalidou Koulibaly getting on the end of Mason Mount's free kick and just forcing the ball over the line.

Both sides looked like they could go on to score next but Felix's red card, for a very reckless challenge, left the hosts as the favourites.

Former Tottenham Hotspur player Vinicius then made it 2-1, rising high above Chalobah to head home from Andreas Pereira's cross.

Not the ideal debut for Felix.