Thiago Silva will be 38 years of age later this year but the Brazilian proved he is no slouch in the Carabao Cup final yesterday.
The former Paris Saint-Germain man has never been viewed as a rapid defender, instead relying on his expert reading of the game in situations.
But he showed he has both in the locker in one phase of play against Liverpool at Wembley.
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In the second half, Edouard Mendy gave the ball away very cheaply and the ball was fed to Sadio Mane by Fabinho.
Liverpool counted quickly with Chelsea's players up the pitch and the ball was threaded through to Mo Salah, who had a one-on-one chance with Mendy.
Salah held his run to remain onside and then opted for a dinked finish. It may well have been going wide anywhere but Silva appeared out of nowhere to make a superb goal-line clearance.
He ended up sliding back into the net for his troubles but it was an excellent piece of defending from Silva, who never gave up.
His performance in 120 minutes of action was imperious and he even tucked away his penalty in the shoot-out defeat.
Silva drew high praise from Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports after the game, with the former Liverpool defender saying, "He is unbelievable, that fella. To do what he's doing at his age. In terms of Van Dijk and Thiago Silva, that is world-class."
Meanwhile, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink was even more complimentary of Silva - causing a stir with Carragher and Jamie Redknapp when he said the ex AC Milan man is better on the ball than Virgil van Dijk.
"I think sometimes when Van Dijk is under pressure he kicks it out," while Silva wouldn't, he finds a solution. Hasselbaink said, irking his fellow pundits.
Redknapp urged Hasselbaink to support his fellow countryman, while Carragher asked if he was going to back to Van Dijk's time at Groningen in the Netherlands.
He replied: “Hold on guys.“I love Virgil Van Dijk. Silva, top class. Van Dijk, top class. Silva, a little bit better on the ball.”
Topics: Thiago Silva, Chelsea, Mohamed Salah, Carabao Cup, Liverpool
Josh Lawless