Richarlison scored a dramatic late winner as 10-man Tottenham defeated Chelsea 2-1 in Sydney in pre-season
Tottenham Hotspur claimed a dramatic 2-1 victory over Chelsea in an entertaining pre-season friendly in Sydney, with Richarlison scoring a last-minute winner after Spurs played the entire second half with 10 men.
A crowd of 80,363 at Stadium Australia witnessed an intense London derby as new Tottenham signing Sandro Tonali opened his account for the club before Richarlison’s late strike secured victory for Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
Tonali gave Tottenham the lead in the 19th minute when his effort from the edge of the area took a decisive deflection. However, Chelsea responded almost immediately, with Brazilian youngster Estevão heading home just two minutes later after an impressive run through midfield by Roméo Lavia.
The match turned on its head shortly after halftime when Tottenham defender Kevin Danso received a straight red card only minutes after coming off the bench. The centre-back was dismissed for bringing down João Pedro, leaving Spurs to defend with 10 men for the remainder of the contest.
Chelsea dominated possession and created several clear chances against the numerical disadvantage. Estevão came closest to giving Xabi Alonso’s side the lead when he struck the crossbar, but the Blues were unable to convert their superiority into goals.
Tottenham made Chelsea pay for those missed opportunities deep into stoppage time. Richarlison calmly side-footed the ball into the net in the 90th minute to seal a morale-boosting victory for Spurs and hand Alonso his first defeat as Chelsea manager.
Ten-man Tottenham secure the win in Sydney ✊ pic.twitter.com/3sfjoHAoNm
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 1, 2026
The result continues a positive pre-season for Tottenham, who previously defeated Auckland FC and drew with Sydney FC. New arrivals Tonali and Andy Robertson both featured prominently, although Matheus Fernandes and James Maddison remained unavailable through injury.
