How Stamford Bridge paid tribute to Thiago Silva as Chelsea send heartwarming seven-word message
Chelsea supporters paid tribute to Thiago Silva in spectacular fashion ahead of his final game for the club. The 39-year-old defender recently confirmed that he'll be leaving Stamford Bridge to join Fluminense following the expiration of his contract at the end of the season.
Since joining the Blues from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in August 2020, Silva has featured over 150 times for the club. The veteran led Chelsea to Champions League glory in his debut season before getting his hands on the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
Now, after four brilliant years in west London, Silva shall return to his boyhood club, where he first made a name for himself. Ahead of his final game for the Blues, supporters at Stamford Bridge put on a fantastic display, unveiling two brilliant banners.
One of which showed Silva holding the Chelsea badge in front of the Brazil flag with the caption, 'obrigado o monstro, um de nos' – which means, 'thank you the monster, one of us' in English. Another tifo displayed a picture of him with the caption, 'he came from PSG to win the Champions League.'
In the moments building up to kick-off against Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon, Blues supporters were also heard chanting, 'oh, Thiago Silva!' In an interview with Sky Sports ahead of the clash, Silva sent his teammates a clear message.
"Thiago knows what it means to wear a Chelsea shirt, you know," said the Chelsea icon. "And if I have a message to send to the boys that are here today, I hope they understand that everything they did to get to Chelsea has to be worth it.
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"Because the season we're having is not worthy of Chelsea. It's not. And I think they have to do more next year, they need to do more," added Silva. "If you look at the games, the fans never left the team, never. We were in ninth place, eighth, right? And the fans were always there.
"They booed us off a little at the end of the match, but they're always there in the stands, always with 40,000, 45,000. If we were somewhere else, they could throw rocks at us - we know that happens in our country.
"So these boys need to be aware that Chelsea has to fight for the top positions. If we take a little of our ego and put it in favour of the team, I think it will work. If we don't do that, the situation will hardly change unfortunately."
