Chelsea 2 Wigan Athletic 1:IF ONE story highlights the convention-busting ball of energy that is David Luiz, it came when he took part in an online QA session with Chelsea supporters. One of them emailed to say that he loved David Luiz so much, he thought of the defender when he looked at his girlfriend.
Amid the guffaws, David Luiz was told by a Chelsea employee that he did not have to answer. But to David Luiz, nothing is off-limits and he was quickly into agony uncle mode. She should not feel threatened, David Luiz said, although it was important that most of the fan’s love was for her. But hey, if he was holding something back, then maybe that was a good thing, too.
David Luiz is crazy, but good crazy. Everything he does comes from the heart and it is sincerely intended to please. His swashbuckling style is as unique as his hair; centre-halves are not supposed to play like attacking midfielders.
But as the Brazilian hurtles about and steps up with the ball at his feet, it is difficult not to buy into the exuberance.
Chelsea’s victory was flavoured by the surreal. After a first half so dull that a goal-hanging pigeon was the star turn, they took the lead through a Branislav Ivanovic goal that was so far offside it beggared belief.
And after Wigan Athletic had equalised when substitute Mohamed Diame punished loose defending to crash a shot past Petr Cech, Chelsea won it in stoppage time with a bundled effort from Juan Mata that barely crossed the line. Once again, there were questions of offside. It was easy to understand the frustration of Wigan boss Roberto Martinez.
Lucky Chelsea? Absolutely. Barcelona will hardly be quaking ahead of their Champions League semi-final, and nor will Fulham in the Premier League tonight or Tottenham Hotspur in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final. But the happy-go-lucky David Luiz is all about what is positive and possible.
This type of period, when the important games came in thick and excitable bursts, was the reason why he joined Chelsea from Benfica in January of last year. The Barcelona ties, he said, would be the biggest of his career.
Yes, the players were tired but the schedule was merely the by-product of success; the reality of top-level football. Chelsea’s squad, he ventured, had the strength to cope. Bring it on, he practically shouted.
“Barcelona is a great team,” Luiz said. “And in the Champions League, it’s now the best four teams in the world because it is the best competition in the world. It’s so difficult. But I think it’s possible to beat Barcelona. If Chelsea have arrived at this stage, it’s because we have a good team and it’s possible for us to continue.”
Nothing seems to faze David Luiz and certainly not the pundit Gary Neville’s infamous assessment that he played as though controlled by a 10-year-old on a PlayStation.
“Gary Neville didn’t play for Chelsea. Gary Neville played for Manchester United, no?” Luiz said. “I know Gary Neville in the past was a very good player but he sometimes needs respect. One sentence, sometimes, is not good but I am so, so confident in my life and in my football. I am very, very happy because God gave me health. Football is important but I have my family. I have a smile every day.”
David Luiz makes love, not war. Days after Neville’s comments last November, he tweeted a message to him. “I put on my Twitter, ‘Gary Neville, I love you’,” David Luiz said. “Gary Neville say bad, other people say good. It’s normal. I just need to show with my work on the pitch. I respond like this. In every game, I work a lot, I tackle. I give my heart.”
The margins were so fine on Saturday. Wigan captain Gary Caldwell failed to finish when well-placed in the second minute of stoppage time and, moments later, Mata scored after a volley from substitute Fernando Torres came back off the far post.
Chelsea’s bid for a top-four finish was maintained; Wigan watched the point that would have lifted them out of the relegation zone vanish. Their next two fixtures are against Manchester United and Arsenal.
“The least we deserved was a point and we were that confident that in the last few seconds, my centre-half was in the penalty area trying to get a winner,” Martinez said. “I’m not going to blame bad decisions for the position that we’re in; we have to take responsibility for where we are, but small margins are very important.
“I’ve had two apologies from referees already this season after decisions that have been made and I’ll probably get another one now. I would swap the three for one point.”
Guardian Service
