Brazil and Chelsea star Thiago Silva had his feet immortalised on the Maracana Walk of Fame on Friday afternoon.
The 37-year-old centre-back is one of the most decorated players in the country’s history, having won 31 career titles with Fluminense, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea in a career spanning almost 20 years. Silva also has 105 caps for his country, making him the player with the tenth-most appearances for Brazil alongside Ronaldo Fenomeno and Emerson Leao.
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His achievements for Brazil include winning the 2013 Confederations Cup and the 2019 Copa America. He has also played in two Olympic Games (Bejing 2008 and London 2012) as well as playing in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups. He now joins an exclusive list of Brazilian players including Pele, Garrincha, Ronaldinho, Neymar, Zico, Romario and international stars like Eusebio, Beckenbauer and Messi on the Maracana Walk of Fame.
“It’s a very special day for me,” said Silva. “God has been very generous to me, not only because of football, but in my personal life as well. This day here for me is more than special. I am truly flattered by this honor.”
A night prior to accepting his award, Silva was captaining Brazil to a 4-0 win over South Amercian rivals Chile Goals from Neymar, Vinícius Junior, Philippe Coutinho and Richarlison settled the tie which also saw Silva receive a huge ovation from the crowd when he charged down and tackled Joaquín Montecinos after he’d torn away towards the Brazil goal on the hour mark.
And it seems like Silva will continue to be terrorising attackers for some time yet as he recently declared he’d like to keep playing into his 40s like legendary Italian defender Paulo Maldini did at AC Milan. At 37 years of age there is still plenty of time for Silva to keep going at the highest level, with his contract at Stamford Bridge currently running until 2023.
“I hope I can do the same thing that Maldini did at Milan, playing until he was 40 or 41 years old,” Silva told Chelsea website. “That’s my plan for the immediate future and I have prepared myself for that. When you’re young, you think you’re a superhero. I’d play one game a day, so in terms of recovery it was a lot quicker. Whereas now 24 hours seems like no time at all in which to recover. You’ve always got to be active and up to speed with the new recovery methods out there.”
“I’ve got lots of things I do at home like physio work, and nowadays I’ve got a better diet than before. You need to fuel yourself well, not with the bad stuff. This is part of what I’ve got to do so that I can optimise this recovery process, which for me needs to be quicker.”
