Former Chelsea hero David Luiz makes history by winning the Copa Libertadores

There wasn’t much to be happy about in the Chelsea-verse yesterday, but over in South America, one of our former heroes — well, two, actually — had themselves a pretty good weekend indeed. Flamengo, featuring David Luiz and Filipe Luís, beat Athletico Paranaense, 1-0 on Saturday night to claim their third Copa Libertadores and second in four seasons (and third final in that same span).

The Copa Libertadores is South America’s equivalent of the Champions League, and David Luiz became just the twelfth player to ever win both. Filipe Luís was runner-up twice with Atlético Madrid in the Champions League, while another one of their teammates, Arturo Vidal, lost the 2015 final with Juventus.

David Luiz, who joined Flamengo 15 months ago after leaving Arsenal, was always special (and most special to yours truly) but he’s in truly in special company* in this regard now. And still enjoying the life of course.

(In the process of writing this, it turned out that Ramires could claim a similar** feat as well; congrats Rami!)

There was one more Chelsea-related note from this final, with Luiz Felipe Scolari at the helm of Athletico Paranaense, and set to retire from management now after a 40-year career. Scolari is set to stay with the club as a technical director (a role he had been fulfilling already before stepping in on an interim basis earlier this year).

Big Phil’s time at Chelsea was brief and not great, but his career is legendary.

Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images

*The full list of players who have won both the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores:

1. Juan Pablo Sorín (Juventus 1996; River Plate 1996)
2. Dida (Cruzeiro 1997; AC Milan 2003, 2007)
3. Cafú (Saõ Paulo 1992, 1993; AC Milan 2007)
4. Roque Júnior (Palmeiras 1999; AC Milan 2007)
5. Carlos Tevez (Boca Juniors 2003; Manchester United 2008)
6. Walter Samuel (Boca Junior 2000; Inter Milan 2010)
7. Ronaldinho (Barcelona 2006; Atlético Mineiro 2013)
8. Neymar (Santos 2011; Barcelona 2015)
9. Danilo (Santos 2011; Real Madrid 2016, 2017)
10. Rafinha (Bayern Munich 2013; Flamengo 2019)
11. Ramires (CHELSEA 2012, Palmeiras 2020)
12. DAVID LUIZ (CHELSEA 2012; Flamengo 2022)

(Sorín was a bit-part player at Juve that season but did make one appearance during their European campaign)

**Ramires meanwhile missed out on the 2020 final, which was held in January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and by that time Rami had been released by Palmeiras. But he was a key player for them throughout the 2020 season otherwise.