Thiago Silva explains his love affair with Chelsea fans after double award win

Thiago Silva has reflected on his season in a really interesting interview on the Chelsea website conducted to celebrate his winning of the Player of the Season award and the Players’ Player of the Year award.

The central defender had some tough times early in his career, but it’s been a very long time since he experienced anything like the chaos (and the defeats) of this season.

“It was a very emotional moment for me, especially because in spite of the bad season we have had, fans still wanted to show me their support,” Silva explains of the reception he got on Sunday from the crowd at Stamford Bridge after the final game of the season.

“It’s been a hard year, so the recognition fills me with happiness, pride and pleasure for being part of this team.

“From my first day here, I have been warmly welcomed by Chelsea fans and so my commitment is even greater than before because I know we need to respond to them with better performances on the pitch and give them the response they deserve.

“At one point we were all fans and we know what it feels like to love the players in a team, and how the supporters suffer,’ he continues.

“So we recognise that it’s not easy for them to show that love in moments like this. I want to say that it’s important to recognise that if we were in this particular situation in another country, we would likely not receive the love we have received here at Chelsea. We’d probably be received with bad language or abuse, but we didn’t get that here, and it shows the love that the fans have for us.”

He won both the awards, but he will now better than anyone he hasn’t had his best season by any stretch of the imagination – in fact, ironically, this is perhaps his worst season of the 3 he has now spent at Chelsea.

But given the dross around him, an award for the many exceptional performances he’s had in that span seems only fair. It sounds like he’s sticking around too, now that his sons are in the academy:

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