The club's new signing scored twice against Fluminense but there was much more to admire about his game on Tuesday

Rare is the day a player earns a first start for their new team in the semifinal of a competition despite being under contract with an entirely different club during the group stage, but leave it to the new-look Club World Cup to shoehorn a new quirk into the structured soccer calendar.

With new Chelsea signing Joao Pedro scoring a brace against his former club Fluminense at their Club World Cup semifinal, the gauntlet has been laid in the battle for who should start at striker for Chelsea.

“It doesn’t make sense for Brazil to try to compete with European clubs in terms of finances,” Fluminense coach Renato Gaúcho said through a translator. “Brazilian clubs trade players and sell them to Europe so they can survive, and that’s been true even since I was a player.”

The Brazil attacker made his Blues debut off the bench against Palmeiras in the Club World Cup quarter-finals, and made his full debut on Tuesday in the New Jersey sunshine — this time facing another Brazilian side and his former employers, Fluminense, who had ex-Chelsea captain Thiago Silva in the middle of a back three.

Chelsea striker Joao Pedro says he was on holiday in Brazil when the chance came to make a "dream" move Stamford Bridge.The 23-year-old sealed a £60m switch from Brighton last week and is now in a position to start for his new club at the Club World Cup as they prepare to face Fluminense - the club he played youth football for - in the semi-finals.