Carlo Ancelotti hints at possible Estevao boost for Chelsea after Brazil's win
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Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti has hinted at a possible rotation ahead of Tuesday's friendly match against Japan, which would allow Estevao some rest before heading back to Chelsea.
Brazil secured a comfortable 5-0 win over South Korea on Friday with such a dominating performance.
Estevao extended his goalscoring streak, having previously scored the winning goal in Chelsea's win over Liverpool last week as he scored twice in the game.
Ancelotti mentioned the young winger among the players that impressed him.
"It's a team game. Obviously, we had a strong foundation, a solid team in defence, and with that, the quality up front comes out," the Italian said after the match.
"Rodrygo had a great game, Estevao, Vinicius... the team has a lot of variety, a lot of offensive solutions.
"Today we saw the individual quality of the players."
Estevao scores twice for Brazil! 🇧🇷😍 pic.twitter.com/cfyNm6oAQC
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 10, 2025
After such a big win, there are understandably questions about whether Ancelotti has found his best attacking line.
The former Real Madrid boss, however, insisted that he may still want to experiment with his team.
"It depends a lot on how we start the game, if you have a lot of control, if there are no problems with the ball movement," he explained when asked whether he would continue playing his front four.
From Chelsea's perspective, they naturally would want Estevao to get more game time with the national team to develop, but not to the point that it would affect his performance when returning to the club.
Chelsea will be back in action against Nottingham Forest just over a week from now on October 18, and since Cole Palmer is expected to remain out, Enzo Maresca would hope to have Estevao available for this match.
Gerry Crisandy is a freelance writer who has covered Chelsea for many years. His work has been published on The Chelsea Chronicle and Pride of London. He grew up idolising Michael Ballack and is a firm believer in expected goals.