Southampton’s Livramento on “pleasure” at playing back at Chelsea

Southampton defender and former Chelsea talent Tino Livramento admitted it was a pleasure to play back at the club he grew up at on Saturday.

The 18-year-old was part of a Saints team that performed well up until the final 15 minutes and looked set for a point courtesy of a James Ward-Prowse penalty that was won by a typically determined Livramento drive into the box. However, a costly Ward-Prowse red card and two late Chelsea goals saw an eventual 3-1 scoreline in favour of the hosts.

Speaking to southamptonfc.com after the loss, Livramento said:

"“It’s a weird thing growing up a Chelsea fan and coming back. You have dreams of playing for Chelsea here, but it was a pleasure to play in front of everyone, not only our fans but the Chelsea fans as well and my family. It’s a shame about the result, but I really think we can build on this and I’m looking forward to getting back after the international break.”"

Southampton benefitting from playing development role for Livramento

Despite it being a big day for Livramento playing back at his old club, he was also in professional mode in being disappointed about the 3-1 loss for his current side.

Had Saints kept 10 men on the pitch, they could have taken a point and Livramento played a big part in the the equalising goal that his side scored courtesy of a penalty.

61 minutes were on the clock and Saints had regained some control of the match when the ball arrived at the right-back in a promising position. He made his way into the penalty area and into a one-on-one situation with Ben Chilwell and, with one subtle shift past the Chelsea man, bought the foul – leaving James Ward-Prowse to do the rest by dispatching from the spot.

Late drama meant that Saints took nothing back to the South Coast but playing in this current team will undoubtedly give Livramento some of the most important experiences of his career.

He has been used to aspiring to the lofty heights of a club like Chelsea, who ultimately could not give him the breakthrough into first-team football that he wanted. Now he is becoming a Premier League regular and steadily working his way towards the potential that could see him become a future star of world football.