Silva's scare boosted faith

Brazil defender Thiago Silva has seen it all during a globetrotting football career that has made him a legend within the game.

But it could have all ended in a Russian hospital bed during a six-month battle with tuberculosis that threatened his life along with his career.

Silva, 40, has now returned to Brazilian giants Fluminense after completing four seasons at Premier League Chelsea where he was a mainstay of the Blues’ defence. He revealed how the scare brought him closer to God.

The cultured centre-back, with more than 100 Brazil caps, had moved to Porto, where he was loaned to Dynamo Moscow. It was there that a career seemingly only going in one direction had to be put on hold.

Silva told Sorted Magazine: “The pain and the length of time I suffered took away so much from me.

“In many periods it felt like I was never going to get better, and at many points they were worried I may deteriorate and, ultimately, die.

“I have never felt closer to God than in those moments, nor further away from myself.”

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