Former Chelsea defender Thiago Silva has admitted it would be a ‘special’ moment to eliminate his old club from this year’s FIFA Club World Cup.
Silva’s current side Fluminense will take on the Blues in the semi-final today (Tuesday).
Fluminense are yet to lose in the tournament, recording three win and drawing two of their last five matches.
For Chelsea, Fluminense will be the third Brazilian side they will face in the revamped tournament.
Enzo Maresca’s men lost 3-1 to Flamengo in the group stage before edging out Palmeiras 2-1 in the quarter-finals.
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Looking ahead to the last four tie 40-year-old Silva, who won the UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup at Chelsea in 2021, said (via Tribuna):”It will be special if we manage to eliminate Chelsea, even with all the affection I have for them.
“But when we’re facing each other, there’s not much else to do – we have to fight for our team. After the Club World Cup, I’ll go back to supporting Chelsea and PSG as always.”
Chelsea Defender Cucurella Gives Thoughts On Fluminense, Thiago Silva
Meanwhile, Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella described Thiago Silva as a “legend” of football, and is looking forward to doing battle with his former team-mate.
“He’s a legend of football, a top player. He’s only played for big clubs and texted me before the [quarter-final] game saying, ‘Let’s go, hopefully we can see you in a couple of days’. I texted him saying, ‘Let’s go!’
“We have the opportunity to play against him again and hopefully we can do good things and win this game and play in the final which is what we want to do.”
On how would he describe Fluminense ahead of their last four tie, the Spanish international said:”They have a very high level. They have shown in this tournament why they are going right until the final [stages].
“We’ve played against two Brazilian teams so far and now we will face a third. They fight until the end. We’re happy to be in the next round and to have this experience of playing against the South American teams, which isn’t very common. Overall, we’re enjoying this tournament.”
