Former Chelsea FC defender and sometimes midfielder David Luiz shared his all-time best XI with the PSG YouTube channel and it appears his short time at Chelsea really influenced it. David Luiz selected four of his former Chelsea teammates for the list including, Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Michael Essien, and his Brazilian compatriot Willian.
Some of David Luiz’s choices appear to be political as he made sure to choose his Brazil and PSG teammate Thiago Silva as his centerback partner rather than the much more accomplished John Terry. He also chose PSG teammate Maxwell over Cesar Azpilicueta or more surprisingly, Ashley Cole. Cole and Azpilicueta are better players than Maxwell but perhaps he was a hero of Luiz when he was at Barcelona. His choice of Petr Cech is obvious as he is undoubtedly the best keeper Luiz has ever played with.
The other surprising choice is Michael Essien in central midfield over some of the other choices available to David Luiz, most notably Frank Lampard. It is hard to argue against Essien being one of the best players in the world when he was still healthy but the same could be said of Lampard. While Essien is toiling away in Serie A, clearly robbed of much of his ability by injury, Lampard is still scoring important goals in the Premier League. Perhaps it was Luiz’s infatuation with Essien’s buccaneering style in his early days that influence the Brazilian today.
David Luiz rounds out the best eleven midfield by selecting Pablo Aimar alongside Essien and Willian on the wing. Luiz must have quite the affinity for his Brazil teammate as the winger was not even first choice at Chelsea for quite a while.
The forwards are also an interesting choice for Luiz. He chooses Neymar which is a no-brainer considering the emotional reaction Luiz had to him missing the World Cup semifinal against Germany. Alongside Neymar he chose Lionel Messi over his teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Luiz must not be worried about offending the big Swede for leaving him out but the Zlatan is usually not bothered by things like this. This ends up being quite the team and at its peak could challenge any side in the world and probably come out on top.
David Luiz’s Best XI
Goalkeeper: Petr Cech
Defenders: Ivanovic, Silva, David Luiz, Maxwell
Midfield: Angel Di Maria, Essien, Aimar, Willian
Forwards: Neymar and Messi
Here is the video of David Luiz explaining his choices:
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