After cutting short his holiday to complete his move to Chelsea, the forward replaced Liam Delap early in the second half in the Club World Cup quarter-final.

That did not seem to faze him as he delivered an impressive performance on his debut, as the Blues progressed to the last four of the competition.

‘The reason why we decided to involve him is because since he arrived, even if he was on holiday, he looks sharp, he looks good, and we wanted to give him some minutes,’ said Maresca after the victory.

‘Also, I think with him and Noni (Madueke) inside the pitch, we were much better.

‘With Joao, we knew him very well. The reason why he's here is because we like him and we are sure that he's going to help us.’

In addition to the win, Chelsea fans were also given a preview of Estevao, who will join the Blues after this tournament.

The 18-year-old scored an impressive goal to level the scores at 1-1 and looked lively when cutting in from the right flank. Maresca noted his performance but spoke of an adaptation process once the Brazilian makes the move to SW6.

‘Estevao was very good,’ the boss continued. ‘You can see that he is a huge talent. You can see that he is a fantastic player.

‘The only thing for me is when you come from South America or in general from the other parts of the world to Europe, you need time to adapt. So we're going to help him to adapt. First of all, to be happy, to continue to enjoy his football, and we have no doubts because he's so good that he is going to be a very important player for Chelsea.’

We will face another Brazilian opponent in the semi-final when we take on Fluminense in New York on Tuesday, with the potential for a reunion with ex-Blues defender Thiago Silva.

Maresca is already planning his strategy for the match and is under no illusions about the strength of the opposition.

‘Until today, I was focused on Palmeiras,’ he explained. ‘But as I said yesterday, they have shown how good Brazilian football is.

‘From tomorrow, I will start to be focused on Fluminense. I watched this afternoon’s game and I watched some games that they have played, and you can see that they are very well organised.

‘They have some very good players, and the manager is doing a fantastic job.

‘The energy from the Brazilian teams in this competition has been high energy. Probably the reason why is because you are starting [your season] now, whereas we are finishing the season, so the energy is normal. That is the difference, and we try to deal with that in a different way.’

Chelsea's Club World Cup semi-final against Fluminense will be shown live by DAZN and you can watch by signing up for free here.