It's a fact, Thiago Silva was short of form. Returning from a pubic injury and after missing four games, the Brazilian central defender only had trips to Dijon (6-1) and Amiens (4-4) to try to get back to level. Nevertheless: Tuesday evening, in Dortmund, three days after finding himself involved in three goals from Amiens, the Parisian captain seemed more than ever to turn 35 and above all to give some additional arguments to those who keep putting in before its faults, on and off the field. Against Haaland, he finished once his nose in the grass before a little later the Dortmund striker launched a sublime strike to register his second goal of the evening.
Going too far in front of his opponents, Thiago Silva seems inevitably to stray from his goal: to extend his stay in Paris, he who is coming to the end of the contract next June. And the recent comments made by Unai Emery, the former Parisian coach, in the columns of France Football sound a little louder. "Thiago Silva is a great player but I wanted him to be higher and I couldn't get him to accept this," explains the Spanish technician. I wanted him to get out of his comfort zone, to dare to defend higher so that the general pressure of the team on the opponent would be more effective. I worked with him to make him accept this but I did not succeed. "
"If we have to die on the ground, we will"
Despite everything, Thiago Silva, whom his compatriots had nicknamed O Monstro at the time of his splendor, remains an experienced player, capable of making very clean copies, especially in L1. In any case, it is not his accomplice Marquinhos who will say the opposite. Asked this Saturday, on the eve of the reception of Bordeaux to find out if Silva still had the level to guide PSG, his Brazilian friend does not hesitate for a moment: "Yes, I think so. He is demonstrating it on the field where he makes really good matches. Even though he is 35 years old, he continues to play at a very high level. Above all, he is a great friend, a good person who I have next to me in the locker room. He helps me and always pushes me forward. If I had to choose, of course I would like it to stay. "
On Friday, on the club's official website, Thiago Silva took the floor to deliver a mobilizing speech in preparation for the return against Dortmund on March 11. "I am convinced that we are going to have a very good match," he said. We will have to respond on the ground. If we have to die on the ground, we will. The past two years have shown us that everything is possible at this level. "
In the meantime, if he were to leave Paris in a few months, Thiago Silva could have a successor with Tanguy Kouassi whom he appreciates. "I try to talk to him as much as possible, to teach him a lot," he said on the club website about the young Parisian. When I see what he is doing on the field and in training, at only 17 years old, I am amazed. "