Scoring twice in a semi-final, on your first start, to put your club within touching distance of a £100million-plus jackpot, is usually cause for celebration. But Joao Pedro was only following the law.
When Chelsea’s new £60m man instantly repaid a large chunk of his transfer fee with that double against Fluminense to send the Blues into Sunday’s Club World Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain, he held up his hands and stopped. He had just adhered to the ‘Lei do Ex’ (law of the ex) – a Brazilian maxim that players always seem to score against their former clubs.