Luiz’s rocket versus Fulham (2013)
I remember this match well. Before narrowly beating Sunderland 2-1 ten days before facing Fulham, Chelsea were enduring a rough patch. The prior eleven games resulted in two draws and four losses. Like, 0-1 to Queens Park Rangers and 2-3 to Newcastle type of losses.
Chelsea were knocking the ball about and failing to find a way through the Fulham defense. Teams had taken the tactic of packing in and devolving Chelsea’s attack into predictable passing around the box. About 29 minutes into the game, I remember the commentator saying that it’s going to take someone doing something special to break the deadlock. He started going through the list of stars most likely to produce it: Juan Mata, Eden Hazard…but before he could name another, BANG.
Hazard rolled the ball across midfield. Ramires let it roll beyond him and into the space Luiz had drifted into. The space was about forty yards from goal and he was a defender, so no one in a Fulham shirt was within 12 yards.
Luiz pushed the ball ahead with his right, revved up and exploded through the back of it. It was a bullet. In fact the only reason it dipped below the bar was because it was hit from so far away. Chelsea went the remainder of the season without a loss in the Premier League.
Who knows if Antonio Conte truly wanted David Luiz or was faced with the ultimatum of this or nothing. Who knows if Conte can corral Luiz’s tendencies enough to make him a solid member of a title-winning defense. Who knows how this ends with David Luiz, precedent isn’t in his favor. But Luiz is a fun chapter in Chelsea folklore; a more athletic CB than we’ve had on the roster since Kurt Zouma went down; and a player whose erratic decisions sometimes lead to the magnificent. It’s certainly not all bad.