Cole Palmer scored four against Brighton (Image: Getty)
star made a sarcastic dig at whilst writing on his hat-trick ball on Saturday afternoon.
Palmer scored four as he guided the Blues to a 4-2 victory over , becoming the first player in history to find the back of the net on four occasions in the first half of a match.
The England international equalised for his side after Georginio Rutter’s opener before scoring a penalty and free-kick to grab a 10-minute hat-trick. Palmer then restored his side’s two-goal lead with an excellently worked goal after Robert Sanchez’s mistake was capitalised upon by Carlos Baleba.
Palmer now has three hat-tricks to his name at Stamford Bridge and continues to assert himself as one of the most exciting attackers in Europe.
With his quality known around the world, teammate and long-term friend Lavia could not resist the chance to make a cheeky dig at the expense of Palmer when signing his hat-trick ball at fulltime.
The former Southampton midfielder wrote: “You’re a mid player regardless.” An image of the ball has since been shared online, with many supporters laughing at home Lavia played down the excellence of his teammate.
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??????⚽️ Cole Palmer’s match ball… with special comment by Roméo Lavia. ??????
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano)
heaped praise on his No. 20 after Palmer’s superb solo performance, saying: “I know from many years ago, I had him at in the under-23s. The best thing is the way he is as a human is the same way. This doesn’t change his life and that is the best thing for him.
“You’d have to be blind if you didn’t see those kind of things with Cole. I said that he scored four but he could have scored more, I say always to be ambitious and hungry to score more.”
Romeo Lavia came on for Chelsea as a late substitute (Image: Getty)
Palmer added to Match of the Day: “I should have had five or six! When I missed the first chance I was upset but with the way they played and their high line I felt we’d get more chances.
“The manager set up a good game plan, we knew how to attack them with first-time passes in behind. Brighton are a good team, pass the ball well. They play similar to us. Three points is what we needed and that is what we got. I try and play every game the best I can.”