David Luiz has been called a lot of things, but a shapeshifter isn’t one of them.
However, according to Garth Crooks at least, the Brazilian managed to take the form of Cesc Fabregas during the second half of Chelsea’s 3-1 Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday.
That’s the only explanation we can find for Crooks praising the Brazilian for a pass played by his Blues teammate to help lay on Diego Costa’s equaliser at the weekend.
Ben PageCrooks writes:
“What a ball for Diego Costa to Score. I don’t know what was better, Costa’s movement in order to offer the invitation for David Luiz to attempt the 40-yard wonder ball or the sheer audacity and precision of the pass. I suppose the movement combined with the chest trap made it for me.
“The last time I saw a centre-back put a centre forward in on goal so well or so deliberately was Bobby Moore in the World Cup final in 1966. It was just masterful. As a former player I saw defenders try something like that but seldom did it work.
“I even played with defenders who would not have given a moment’s thought to attempting such an adventurous manoeuvre for fear of ridicule. That was left to the midfield players – providing you had one that could pass, of course.
“It’s great to see world-class defenders producing world-class moments.”
We’re sure Luiz wouldn’t have been concerned about being ridiculed for that particular pass – after all, he could have just blamed Fabregas if it had gone wrong.
You know, because the Spaniard was the one who actually played the pass.
The BBC have since updated Crooks’ post to remove all mention of the Moore-esque pass, though they’ve left in the suggestion that it took ‘an excellent finish’ to beat Blues goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
In fairness, the finish was impressive. It was also accidental, coming as it did from the boot of Courtois’ colleague Gary Cahill.
