It is no doubt that football is a game; or more so, a language that speaks to millions of people around the world. In a game filled with breath-taking goals, exquisite passes, bone-crunching tackles, and spectacular saves, there is one particular occurrence on the football pitch that leaves the fans mesmerized more than ever – skills.
Watching a player execute a skill to perfection is something that sends the fans crazy. It brings out cheers, humiliates an opponent and puts a spring in the step of the player executing it and the team benefitting from it.
With regard to skills, there’s one country that the footballing world turns to when talking about panache – Brazil. The Selecao for years have brought the world to its feet when it comes to entertainment. It’s almost characteristic of Brazilian blood to have an affinity to exude style. To entertain. Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Marcelo, Neymar, Bernard and countless more. All are entertainers.
One entertainer that has come to the fore now is Chelsea’s David Luiz. Known for his flamboyant curly hair and adept at knuckleball free-kicks, Luiz is also infamous for his antics on the pitch.
The Brazilian is in the spotlight now for his latest ‘skill’ against Burnley. During their 2-2 draw against the Clarets, David Luiz appeared to have carried the ball into a cul de sac. With three Burnley players closing in to feed off of Luiz’s imminent error, the Brazilian dropped to the ground to the surprise of the Burnley players.
We won’t talk about this David Luiz dive because it’s not Mohammed Salah 🤫🤐 pic.twitter.com/EgY3xfT6ik
— Curt Griffiths (@CurtLfcGriff) April 22, 2019
It looked like a dive and he appeared to handle the ball while on the floor, but before the referee could take any action, Luiz picked himself off the ground and carried on playing, as if nothing happened. This was met with loud cheers by the Chelsea faithful, at what looked like a ‘skill’ that got Luiz out of trouble.
But what this also did, was spark debate on whether he should’ve been penalized for his dive. Given the delicate situation regarding dives and the strict action to be taken against it, do you think David Luiz dived or was it just quick thinking from the Brazilian?