Silva’s clumsy attempts to block a shot saw him sent off inside half an hour
Because one shaky performance against relegation-threatened West Brom wasn’t enough this season, Thiago Silva made life incredibly difficult for his Chelsea teammates at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, getting sent off for a ridiculous second yellow card shortly after his side had taken the lead.
The Brazilian was playing his first game since early February after being sidelined with a thigh injury, perhaps explaining some of his rustiness as he was booked for an early foul on Matheus Pereira.
After that point, you might have expected Silva to compose himself a little, tap into some of the wealth of experience at his disposal.
But no…
Barely a minute on from Christian Pulisic putting Chelsea ahead, Silva flung himself in the direction of Okay Yokuşlu’s shot from the edge of the penalty area.
The shot was wayward, but in leaving the ground in his attempts to block it, Silva’s follow-through saw him clatter into the Turkish international. The referee didn’t think twice about brandishing a second yellow, sending the defender off with not even half an hour played.
We’d love to show you the footage but at the time of writing, official broadcasters are yet to publish them.
Nevertheless, the images below, which show Silva turning his back on Yokuşlu’s effort, go some way to explaining how poor the challenge was.
Thiago, mate. Come on.
You’re 36 years of age, for heaven’s sake. You’ve been around long enough, played in enough really, really big games to know better than to do something daft like this.
To make matters worse for Chelsea, West Brom rallied to score twice through Pereira in first-half stoppage time: the first of which coming from a perfectly timed run and measured lob.
Goalkeeper assist alert 🚨
West Brom equalise at Stamford Bridge thanks to a delightful finish from Matheus Pereira!
Sam Johnstone with the first-time ping 👌 pic.twitter.com/PhPIbvfrHj
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 3, 2021
A third West Brom came 15 minutes into the second half, with Callum Robinson giving Sam Allardyce’s side a two-goal cushion with another smart finish. Then, to compound Chelsea’s misery, Mbaye Diagne rounded off another smart move to make it 4-1.
