Thiago Silva made some Chelsea history on Thursday when he became the club’s oldest representative at the World Cup when he captained Brazil to a 2-0 win over Serbia in their opening group game.
The veteran centre-back began his fourth World Cup campaign with an assured performance in the heart of the Selecao defence as the South American giants made a strong start in their quest to win the competition for a sixth time.
At 38 years and two months, he is now the oldest Chelsea player to appear in a World Cup game, surpassing the mark set by Willy Caballero four years ago.
Although he played in Argentina’s triumph on home soil in the FIFA World Youth Championship in 2001, the Blues goalkeeper did not make his full international debut until March 2018 when he appeared in a friendly against Italy in Manchester at the age of 36.
Three months later, he was pressed into service as a starter in Russia after Sergio Romero had been ruled out of the World Cup with a knee injury, and was in goal for his side’s opening 1-1 draw against Iceland at the age of 36 years and nine months.
Unfortunately, an error in Argentina’s next game gifted Croatia the lead in a 3-0 defeat which proved to be the last of Caballero’s five senior international games for his country.
Prior to Thiago Silva’s appearance against the Serbians, the oldest Chelsea outfield player to appear at the Mundial was Frank Lampard who captained England in a 0-0 draw against Costa Rica on 24 June 2014, four days after his 36th birthday.
The second most senior Chelsea player who is turning out for his country in Qatar is Cesar Azpilicueta. At 33, the Spanish defender is at the same age as French stars Marcel Desailly (2002) and Claude Makelele (2006), and Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o when they made their last World Cup appearances.
Makelele is currently the oldest Blue to appear in a World Cup final after starting in the penalty shoot-out loss to Italy in Berlin, while his compatriot Olivier Giroud is the most senior player from the club to win the competition after starting in the 4-2 win over Croatia in Moscow in 2018 at the age of 31.
Didier Drogba is our oldest scorer in the tournament after netting in Ivory Coast’s 3-1 loss to Brazil in South Africa in 2010 at the age of 32.
At the other end of the scale, Chelsea’s youngest player in the competition’s history is Celestine Babayaro who was still two months shy of his 20th birthday when he started at left-back for Nigeria in the surprise 3-2 win over Spain in 1998.