It’s time to take a look at another round of international games last night with a Chelsea connection.
Both Joao Felix and Renato Veiga started for Portugal in their 1-1 draw against Croatia in the Nations League.
Felix started as part of two up top for Portugal alongside Raphael Leao, and Veiga started in the middle of a back three.
Veiga had a pretty good game, getting a 6.9 rating from Sofascore, whilst Felix shined bright getting their man of the match shout with an 8.5 rating.
Felix’s stats were incredible, he was really battling and really up for this game, putting in a complete performance and was everywhere.
He won 8 of his 12 duels, 8 of 12 ground duels, and he made 3 successful tackles over 90 minutes played.
As well as scoring his beautiful goal, Felix had 3 shots on target, 1 off target, made 3 key passes, created 1 big chance, completed 27 out of 33 passes, and completed 2 out of 4 dribble attempts. Those are some very impressive numbers.
This is Felix once again sending his message to Enzo Maresca, he wants a place in the starting Xl for league games and if he continues to shine like this, he cannot be ignored. Great confidence and momentum booster for the attacker.
Veiga also played the whole 90 minutes for Portugal but didn’t quite stand out in the same way that Felix did.
However, he was solid and also had a super high passing success rate of 96%.
Although only making 1 tackle all game (2 less than attacker Felix), he won 3 out of 4 duels and 1 out of 2 ground duels. He also won 2 out of 2 aerial duels.
Where he did shine was his long balls from the back, completing 4 out of 6 attempts. He was also controlling the play from that central centre back position, dictating it and having the most touches in the team with 84, and also having the most amount of passes with 77. This is very impressive especially for a player so young.
Defensively he wasn’t overly tested, but he did make 4 clearances and 1 interception, and wasn’t dribbled past once.
He played alongside Tomas Aruajo, a Chelsea target, and overall he looked pretty decent (7.2 rating) as well and is certainly an intriguing potential pursuit.
But Veiga was good, Felix was superb, and all in all a great 90 minuted for the Chelsea lads in this game last night.
