Paris Saint-Germain captain Thiago Silva says he cannot wait to go up against Chelsea striker Diego Costa when the two sides meet at the Parc des Princes for the first leg of their Uefa Champions League last-16 match on Tuesday night.
Silva knows all about Chelsea’s Brazilian born Costa, and maintains that PSG is more than capable of coping with his style of physical play.
“Diego Costa is one of the top strikers in Europe at the moment. He can play, but also he can do battle as well,” said the Brazilian international while being interviewed by the Daily Mirror and carried by Goal.com.
“That is no problem, that is the reason you want to play at this level, to do battle against the best players in the world.
“He is the sort of player that lets you know he is there, but we will also let him know that we are there as well.”
The match on Tuesday also contains a number of sub-plots with PSG’s David Luiz going up against his old club and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic playing against his former Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho.
“Of course Mourinho will know what quality to expect from Zlatan Ibrahimovic because they were together at Inter,” he added.
“I am sure there will be some sort of plan for Chelsea to stop the threat of him, but Mourinho will know that Zlatan can score goals from anything – those you cannot prepare for.
“We know that a Jose Mourinho team is going to be very organised, so we will have to be patient in our approach. I don’t expect them to come to Paris and be attacking but that is why it is so important we keep our focus.
“They will soak up the pressure, but they have dangerous players that can hit you on the counter attack. Costa, Oscar, [Eden] Hazard can hurt you in a second. We must stay focused for the whole game.”
