Chelsea’s David Luiz has admitted his side’s season will be declared a failure unless they pull off a miraculous recovery and win the Premier League title.
PA PhotosDavid Luiz says Chelsea players have given it their all this season.
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Chelsea need Manchester City and Liverpool to slip up in their final games to give the Blues a chance of getting back into title contention, with Luiz suggesting a season without silverware is unacceptable for the west London club.
Luiz was part of the Chelsea starting line-up that lost the Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, with his summation of the campaign pieced together by Jose Mourinho in his first season back at Stamford Bridge leaving little to the imagination.
“You can say it is a bad season if you don’t have trophies in a season at a big club, that is true,” Luiz told reporters. “The season we won the Champions League [2011-12] was a s— season until the end and then we won two titles.
“We are a big club and we want to win trophies, but the most important thing is to have a personality. You need to fight in many situations. This is sport, this is football. Everyone speaks about results, that’s true.
“If there were many poor games, when you didn’t play, didn’t run, didn’t give your best then fine, but we gave our best in many, many games like Wednesday, but sometimes possible to win sometimes not.
“Now, we keep fighting in the league because mathematically we can win. We cannot win automatically, it will be difficult.”
Images of Chelsea skipper John Terry crying at the final whistle of the Atletico Madrid game were beamed around the world on television, but Luiz insisted the veteran Blues defender was not alone in showing his emotion.
“Everyone is crying,” continued Luiz. “Nobody likes to lose a Champions League semifinal, not just John.
“We have to remember we are lucky people who have the best job in the world. We have to respect that people at home do not have the same life as us.”
Luiz went on to answer questions about his own future at Chelsea, with fresh reports emerging in recent days suggesting he could be among those allowed to leave the club as boss Mourinho plans an overhaul of his squad this summer.
“My future is about God,” declared Luiz, as he avoided questions about possible interest from Barcelona. “I do my job every day and this is all I can do.
“Next season there is a plan at Chelsea. We have many, many fantastic players and everyone wants to win trophies because it is normal when you sit at home on the sofa and watch television to see Chelsea fighting for trophies.”