Joao Felix did not take long to win over Chelsea fans on his debut against Fulham on Thursday night, before things fell apart quickly.
Felix left Atletico Madrid and joined the Blues on loan for the rest of the season for a fee of €11million (£9.7m) on Wednesday. A day later and he was thrust into the spotlight for Chelsea's local derby against an in-form Fulham side at Craven Cottage.
The 23-year-old forward left Madrid after falling out with manager Diego Simeone and is relishing the opportunity of a fresh start in London. That was clear right from the off in his Premier League debut.
Skill is to be expected from a player who cost Atleti £113m from Benfica in 2019, but it was still very much admired by the Chelsea fans who made the very short journey across west London for the occasion.
The match was still inside the first two minutes when Felix gave his new supporters an indication of what he will bring to Graham Potter's side. Receiving a pass down the line on the right-hand side, Felix casually nutmegged the onrushing Tim Ream before picking out Kai Havertz with a low cross.
Havertz's effort was blocked and the move came to nothing. But it was the perfect way for Felix to introduce himself - and Chelsea's fans did not take long to put Felix's name into a chant which also managed to poke fun at Arsenal, who were interested in the Portugal international but missed out on the signing.
"Joao Felix, he comes from Portugal, he hates the Arsenal," the chant came from the away end at Craven Cottage.
There were a few more bright sparks from Felix during the first half, with a shot going wide of the near post after a pass from Mateo Kovacic and another heading straight into the gloves of Bernd Leno. Another great-looking chance appeared to have gone begging when Felix failed to get a toe onto a cross, but he was quickly flagged for offside.
Ultimately, though, Felix's first 45 minutes in the Premier League won't be remembered that fondly by Chelsea fans, considering the scoreline. Trevoh Chalobah was at fault at the other end as former Blues winger Willian fired into the bottom corner via a deflection to give Fulham a 1-0 lead at the break.
Things got much worse after the break. Kalidou Koulibaly got a scrappy goal back to make it 1-1, before the moment that Felix's debut will be remembered for came. He dived in and caught Kenny Tete with a high boot and saw a red card which left Chelsea in a terrible position.
Fulham took advantage of their numerical advantage when Carlos Vinicius headed in a deep cross to put Fulham back into the lead which they held onto to complete the win and move up to sixth in the Premier League.
