'He's a legend!' - Marc Cucurella excited ahead of Thiago Silva reunion as Chelsea prepare for Club World Cup semi-final showdown with Fluminense

Chelsea and Fluminense will do battle in the Club World Cup semi-finals with a place in July 13's final up for grabs, where they will face a European heavyweight in either Real Madrid or PSG. But first, Silva will reunite with several of his old Blues team-mates, including Cucurella, who had glowing praise for the legendary centre-back.

Silva may be 40 years old, but he has been commanding as ever for Fluminense in this tournament on their way to the last four, conceding just three goals in five games which included clean sheets against European giants Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund before quarter-final victory over Al-Hilal.

The former PSG and AC Milan defender had a similar influence on the side when he arrived for a second spell at the Brazilian outfit in July 2024, inspiring his boyhood club to a stunning run of clean sheets and survival from relegation. This season they have pushed on under Silva's captaincy and sit sixth in Brasileiro Serie A.

Cucurella said: “We’ve watched some of their games. They have very good players, they are very determined and they have Thiago Silva. He’s a legend of football, a top player. He’s only played for big clubs and texted me before the [quarter-final] game saying, ‘Let’s go, hopefully we can see you in a couple of days’. I texted him saying, ‘Let’s go'! We have the opportunity to play against him again and hopefully we can do good things and win this game and play in the final which is what we want to do.

“[Fluminense] have a very high level. They have shown in this tournament why they are going right until the final [stages]. We’ve played against two Brazilian teams so far and now we will face a third. They fight until the end. We’re happy to be in the next round and to have this experience of playing against the South American teams, which isn’t very common. Overall, we’re enjoying this tournament.”

Cucurella and Silva will both hope to be on the winning side when Chelsea and Fluminense face off on the evening of Tuesday, July 8. For both clubs, the prospect of getting their hands on the Club World Cup trophy is getting tantalisingly close. Chelsea would view it as the perfect ending to a successful first season under Enzo Maresca, while Fluminense could become the first Brazilian winners of the competition since 2012 in what would be a monumental achievement.