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Luiz won't celebrate if he scores against Chelsea

PARIS (Reuters) - Paris St Germain defender David Luiz, who risked long-term injury by playing for Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final, will not celebrate if he scores against his old club in their last 16 first-leg tie on Tuesday.

Luiz won't celebrate if he scores against Chelsea
(Reuters)

The Brazil centre half, sold in June for a fee that media reports put at 50 million pounds ($76.87 million), picked up a hamstring injury ahead of Chelsea's penalty shootout victory over Bayern Munich three years ago.

With John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic suspended, Luiz told physio Jason Palmer not to tell then-manager Roberto Di Matteo he was struggling to be fit.

"If I score for PSG it will be nice," he told a news conference on the eve of the game in Paris. "I want to do my best for my team but if I score against Chelsea I don't celebrate out of respect."

Luiz, who remains a popular figure at Stamford Bridge, scored an own goal in Chelsea's 3-1 quarter-final first leg defeat at PSG last year and was then on the winning side when a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge saw Jose Mourinho's side through on away goals.

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Looking back to 2012, the Brazilian told Palmer how important it was to play in the final.

"I said to him, 'you know how I worked hard in my life to be here?'," Luiz explained in Monday's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

FITNESS TEST

"You know when I left my family I was 14? You know tomorrow there are 200 million Brazilians in the world and just one on the pitch?

"I will do the fitness test but even if I fail you go to Di Matteo and say to him that I play."

Luiz still has a deep indentation in his right leg as a result of his determination to play in Munich which he said "will stay like that now".

Time has moved on since the win over Bayern, with Mourinho now in the Chelsea hot seat and Laurent Blanc in charge at PSG.

Asked to compare Blanc and Mourinho, Luiz said with a smile: "They are both ugly".

In more serious tones he added there were similarities between the two clubs.

"They are at the same level," said Luiz. "The project and plan for PSG is to be the best club in the world in the next few years."

($1 = 0.6505 British Pounds)

(Reporting by Michael Hann, editing by Tony Jimenez)


3 min read

Published

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Source: Reuters


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