Chelsea centre-back Thiago Silva admits that players are finding the volume of games they are playing “very worrying”.
Currently away with the Brazil squad for World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela on Friday and Uruguay on November 17, the Selecao have already seen several players from their squad drop out injured.
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Barcelona’s Philippe Coutinho and Liverpool’s Fabinho have both recently picked up knocks, while Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar has been ruled out of the first game but may play the second. Meanwhile, Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro is absent because of Covid-19.
For Thiago Silva, such issues are now a fact of life in the hectic mid-pandemic schedule.
“We have to constantly reinvent ourselves,” the 36-year-old said. “You lose players because of Covid-19 infections or there are others who get injured because we’re playing a lot of games. We’re not machines.
“We have seen recent studies showing that it is more likely that we are going to get injured after having played every three days four or five times. It is very worrying for us.”
FIFPro, the player’s union, had earlier on Monday released a statement hitting out at European football’s governing bodies for asking the players to turn out with such regularity.
Meanwhile, Silva explained that he has suffered an unusual side effect since moving to Chelsea from PSG on a free transfer.
After my last two games, I’ve had a terrible headache because there are non-stop aerial duels and a very high pace of play.Thiago Silva
“After my last two games, I’ve had a terrible headache because there are non-stop aerial duels and a very high pace of play,” he said.
He also warmly greeted the news that coronavirus vaccine is in the pipeline.
“Hopefully it will be approved as soon as possible so that we can play in full stadiums again,” he said. “When we look at the empty stands, it’s like we’re not playing for anyone, even if the matches are on TV.”
Silva will win his 92nd cap for his country should he feature in either of the coming matches.
