Humble Oscar is soaring in the name of his father

Oscar was just three years old when his father was killed in a car crash. "I play football because of him," Oscar says. "My father loved to play the game, he never became a professional but when he was younger everyone would say he was good enough and when I heard people talking about him, I wanted to emulate him. So I started to play."

Circumstance prevented Oscar dos Santos Emboaba senior - Oscar has the same name as his father - and his brother Alvaro Emboaba from fulfilling their dreams. Both of the Emboaba boys, Oscar says, could have made it otherwise. "Nothing became of it," Oscar explains. "They needed to earn money and weren't able to go to the next step - it's not always possible for everyone to make that step, however talented, because, trust me, they were talked about in the town as great players who could make it as professionals. But circumstances worked against them."

Instead Oscar's father got married, to Suely Alves, had three children - Oscar with an older sister, Gabriela and a younger one, Daniela - and became a furniture salesman in Americana, an unassuming former cotton town in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, named after the influx of immigrants from the United States during the American Civil War.

"As a player, I'm a combination of my father and my uncle," Oscar says. "People back home say that they were such good players and that I remind them of them both."

Alvaro Emboaba is still alive - and he studiously watches every game that Oscar, just turned 21 but having already earned 11 caps for Brazil and a pounds 25m move to Chelsea, plays.

"My father is not here but, maybe, through my uncle he gets some message because my uncle is very, very proud of me," Oscar states in this, his first interview since joining Chelsea.

"He sends me text messages all the time, he calls me after every game. He tells me what he thought of the game, how I played and I get the same from my cousins also. Lots of texts, lots of messages, lots of support."

There were certainly lots of texts on the evening of Sept??19 when Oscar announced himself on the European stage with two goals for Chelsea against Juventus inside the opening 30 minutes of his full debut. For his extraordinary second goal Oscar, tightly marked by Leonardo Bonucci outside the penalty area, cushioned the ball away from Andrea Pirlo, spun around and curled his shot beyond the dive of Gianluigi Buffon. That was a trio of Italian internationals confounded in one rapid execution.

It was a remarkably poised performance - and an even more remarkable introduction to the Champions League, a competition that Oscar had fantasised about playing in, following other Brazilian superstars who he had watched in awe of, such as Ronaldinho and Ronaldo and - most of all - "my idol" Kaka into European football. "After scoring in such an important match," Oscar says, "well, it does show that dreams can come true."

And dream goals also. Oscar's strike went around the internet like wildfire - just like the song he had chosen to sing as his initiation as a Chelsea player, upholding a club tradition of having to stand on a table after dinner on the eve of the first away match of the season, in his case against Wigan Athletic, and belting out a tune.

Oscar is a big Samba fan but chose what he admits is the catchily irritating Ai Se Eu Te Pego by the Brazilian singer Michel Telo. "It's a song that was huge in Brazil in the summer," he explains. "The song went viral on the internet - I even saw Novak Djokovic singing it - and all the Brazilian players and Spanish players at Chelsea joined in. I do not sing very well but I enjoyed it."

The song title translates from Portuguese into "Oh if I catch you"... and Premier League opponents have being ruefully muttering the same about Oscar since he stepped on to the turf at the DW Stadium that next day.

The midfielder has formed a devastatingly elusive attacking triumvirate with Juan Mata and Chelsea's other big-money summer signing, Eden Hazard, as manager Roberto Di Matteo has reshaped the team into a more creative, fluid 4-2-3-1.

"The three of us are quite similar in the way we play so although it's about communication and getting to know each other, there's also something quite instinctive," Oscar says. "Instinctive because we understand what the other one wants to do because it's what we would do ourselves.

"The way we play with short, quick passes suits us and that's why we are gelling so well. For instance, when one of us has the ball, the other two are already looking to see how we can give him the support he needs. When I play, they know what I'm going to do and the three of us in the middle - we want to improve together, grow together, win together."

Is it, in fact, fair to suggest that Chelsea are evolving into a 'blue Brazil' (with, for Scottish fans, due acknowledgement to Cowdenbeath) rather than a would-be Barcelona? "I play with players in the Brazilian national team who are similar to those at Chelsea - Kaka, Neymar," Oscar says. "We play a similar style, have the same instinct and also the same spirit."

There are, of course, also the Chelsea team-mates and fellow Brazilian internationals David Luiz and Ramires who have naturally helped Oscar to settle in to his new club since his summer move from Internacional.

"He's such a character - he plays around," Oscar says of Luiz who, in particular, has been helping him with his English. "He's also very good in helping you mingle with the other players, good at gathering everyone together and helping them."

In truth, Luiz and Ramires found the transition from Brazil to Europe - they both went via Portugal - more difficult than Oscar, he says. "I expected it to be even harder for me as I came straight from Brazil to England but it's not been like that. I feel I've adapted straight away and maybe because they are here, and Lucas [Piazon] is here and there are so many Portuguese and Spanish speakers, then it's made it easier."

There was another warning for Oscar that, also, has proved not to be a concern - the physical demands of the Premier League. "Actually it was one of the reasons people told me not to come to England. But I made my choice to come to Chelsea because I always wanted to play in Europe, in England, and play for one of the biggest clubs.

"I have the same ambitions as Chelsea - I want to win all the competitions. My dream is to win the Champions League, the Premier League and now the World Club Championship [in Japan in December]. I'm looking forward to that. I hope, I believe, I will improve at Chelsea and I will stay here for many, many years."

Oscar adds: "To be honest, as soon as I got here it wasn't a problem because with Chelsea's style of play - yes, the game is more physical here, and I'm still young and still growing and improving - but it's not difficult. It's physical but it's skilful, technical as well and, above all, it suits me."

The evidence backs that up - not just with Oscar's goals and general play but his tactical awareness. He has a pass completion rate of 87 per cent, he wins tackles and against Arsenal he nullified the threat of Mikel Arteta, up to that point the most effective passer in the Premier League, and performed a similar role to occupy Sandro and Tom Huddlestone against Tottenham. Chelsea won both matches.

Now the league leaders take on Manchester United this afternoon. "It's always a big game because they are one of the competitors for the Premier League title," Oscar says. "I treat every game as the same but I do appreciate how important this one is."

There is huge interest back home - and not just from his family. "The best players in the world play in Europe so that's where you want to go when you play in Brazil. I was watching classic games such as Chelsea against Manchester United

and now I'm going to be playing in one."

His wife, Ludmila, will be at Stamford Bridge - he got married last year - and will hope to see Oscar's trademark L-shaped goal celebration in her honour while there will be inevitably texts afterwards from uncle Alvaro and pride from Suely Alves who worked so hard to raise Oscar and his sisters. If only Oscar's father was there, also.

"Of course, it's hard," Oscar says. "I do wish he was here to see me at Chelsea, can you imagine what he would think, me playing for such a big club? Bu t things happen in life and you simply have to deal with it. I'm happy."