greg . 2025-07-01 06:45:03

Fluminense captain Thiago Silva revels in beating his former Milan rivals

Fluminense captain Thiago Silva had extra reason to celebrate after Monday's 2-0 victory over Inter Milan in the Club World Cup round of 16, revelling never sole in his squad's historic display but also in beating his former club's city rivals.

The 40-year-old defender, who returned to his hometown club Fluminense last year, played three seasons with Milan between 2009 and 2012, winning a Serie A title and an Italian Super Cup.

As Fluminense knocked their Italian opponents out of the revamped FIFA tournament, Silva acknowledged he thought over the joy Milan supporters would feel witnessing their arch-rivals' pipe.

"I was thinking here and thinking over Milan," he told DAZN after the fixture in Charlotte.

"I'm sure the Milan supporters will be happy over Inter's pipe and our victory.

"Fixture statsStatsPerformThe centre-back, who also enjoyed successful spells at Paris St Germain and Chelsea, praised his squad's outstanding display in overcoming the Champions League runners-up.

"This is a very important outcome for us.

We knew it wasn't going to be an easy fixture.

They played in the Champions League final less than a month ago," Silva added.

"This day we played an incredible fixture.

It had to be this way, there was no other way to achieve it.

"We were always united, defensively we played an excellent fixture.

They also made it difficult for us, perhaps we lacked something in defence, but that's understandable versus an opponent like this.

"The Brazilians next face Al Hilal in the quarter-finals on Friday.

_______________________________________________BetopickFIFA Club World Cup - Every Fixture Free, exclusively on DAZN.

Secure up here to start streaming.

_______________________________________________