Chelsea's Cucurella relishing Thiago Silva reunion at CWC
Philadelphia
Chelsea's Marc Cucurella is looking forward to doing battle with former team-mate Thiago Silva for a place in the Club World Cup final.
Evergreen defender Thiago, who left Chelsea last summer, is still producing impressive performances at the age of 40 for current club Fluminense.
The two clubs meet in the semi-finals of this summer's global tournament in New York on Tuesday.
Fellow defender Cucurella said: 'We've watched some of their games.
They have very good players, they are very determined and they have Thiago Silva.
'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.'
Thiago is one of the great Brazilian defenders of his era and enjoyed an accomplished four-year spell with Chelsea in what was thought to be the twilight of his career after being released by Paris St Germain in 2020.
His successes included Champions League glory in 2021 - a victory which earned Chelsea their place in the Club World Cup - and he remains a popular figure at Stamford Bridge.
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