Chelsea co-owner branded a ‘billionaire rascal’ for goal celebration vs Brighton

Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali has gone viral on social media for how he celebrated one of Cole Palmer’s four goals in Saturday’s win over Brighton.

The Iranian–American businessman was seen putting his finger to his lips from the director’s box at Stamford Bridge.

There has been some speculation that Eghbali was shushing the Brighton fans in the away section – but that is very much unconfirmed – and likely to be untrue.

It is much more likely that Eghbali, the face of Clearlake Capital, was simply replicating the way Palmer himself sometimes celebrates his goals.

Nonetheless, Chelsea fans have been loving Eghbali’s celebration, with one Blues supporter, @omoonifade1, affectionally labelling him a ‘billionaire rascal’.

@declanFrancis8 added that it was ‘beautiful to see’ while @pharischege78 said that Eghbali looked ‘like a mafia boss’.

‘I love the owners, have always backed them since day one,’ @richy_robson posted.

‘You can’t doubt the determination with the amount they’ve spent in the market. They’re trying to make us the best team, we should support them.’

Chelsea have enjoyed a strong start to the season under their new head coach Enzo Maresca.

The west Londoners continued that trend on Saturday with their 4-2 win over Brighton on Saturday, a result which puts them fourth in the table on 13 points.

Chelsea are currently just two points behind league leaders Liverpool, although it is still very early in the season with just six games played.

The Blues are next in action on Thursday when they face Belgian side Gent in the Conference League.

Their next top-flight fixture comes on October 6 when they host Nottingham Forest.