Source: team_talk
Luiz has eyes on new prize
Chelsea's David Luiz has vowed to win the Club World Cup for his family, hailing them as the greatest "title" of all.
Luiz is on the brink of landing the prize considered in his native Brazil to be the biggest in club football and he insisted it was all down to the people who sacrificed everything to ensure he made it as a footballer.
Luiz has brought his family over to London, from where they will watch Sunday's Club World Cup final against the Corinthians side he grew up supporting.
And he might have been on that side of the television screen himself had his parents not put themselves into debt to pay for him to fly to join Vitoria 11 years ago.
That was after he was released by his local club, having been told he was not big enough to be a footballer.
Luiz promised at the time to repay his family and has more than lived up to his end of the bargain, something he is desperate to continue on Sunday.
"My mum, my father, my nephew, my sister, her husband, all these people are in London," he said.
"So I'm so happy and excited and anxious to see my family when I go back to London. I want to go back with the title.
"All the games, I speak with my family and they support me. They have a great responsibility in David Luiz's life.
"My family is everything to me."
Luiz, who won the Champions League and FA Cup with Chelsea last season, added: "My great 'title' in my life is the great family I have.
"Football and titles and medals come second.
"But when you talk about the significance of the Champions League and now this, the World Cup of clubs, I think the Champions League is the past and the World Cup the present.
"So if I go back with the medal, my family will be happy and they can give me many, many hugs."
Luiz has previously admitted it was his dream just to play Corinthians in the Club World Cup final.
But he now says: "For my dream to come true, I need to win the final.
"Now I have an opportunity to play a grand final against a great team, a great team with the philosophy of Brazilian football.
"They have a lot of the best players in Brazil so I think Chelsea will need to work hard in these couple of days to be fit to win the final."
Luiz may need to work hard in two positions, having started in midfield for the first time in his Chelsea career in Thursday's semi-final against Monterrey.
The 25-year-old admitted he could not remember the last time he played the position from the beginning of the game but insisted he would have no problem doing so again.
"When (Chelsea boss) Rafa (Benitez) said, 'You play today in the starting XI', I'm happy!" he said.
"Because I love playing football and work hard every day to have an opportunity to be in the 11 starters.
"I work in other positions.
"I work in midfield and I work at centre-back.
"I know the position. Because of that, Rafa gave me the opportunity.
"If I play in midfield, if I play at centre-back, if I play another position, I enjoy when I put on the shirt and play for Chelsea because I love Chelsea and I love playing for this club."
It showed yesterday as he impressed in his new role, having seen his defending come under fire ever since moving to Stamford Bridge.
After their worst Barclays Premier League run for 15 years, Chelsea go into Sunday's game on the back of three straight wins.
"When you win, you take more confidence," Luiz said.
"When you do your job well, you take confidence in your work.
"When I do my job well and other members of the team do well, you take confidence into another game.
"This is natural in football. Football moves quickly.
"Sometimes, you take bad moments and sometimes you are in good moments. So now I think the team is on the way to good moments and we need to enjoy this moment."
