The former Chelsea and Arsenal defender called time on his Premier League career at the end of last season and has reflected on some of the criticism he faced
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Arsenal defender David Luiz hilariously pranks team-mates on bus
David Luiz has laughed off criticism from Jamie Carragher claiming his legacy can be seen in the trophies he won during his time in England.
The Brazilian was often on the receiving end of flack from pundits for his unique style of defending after arriving in England in 2010.
Even in his very first game for Chelsea, he was awarded the Man of the Match against Fulham, but only after giving away an injury-time penalty.
It was a fairly consistent theme throughout his days at Stamford Bridge and then at Arsenal, where the sublime would often swiftly meet the ridiculous.
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Image:
Darren Walsh)
But it didn’t stop him amassing an impressive list of honours, winning the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League at Chelsea, while adding his third FA Cup while at Arsenal.
Carragher was a particularly harsh critic of the ex-Arsenal and Chelsea defender, infamously labelling him as a “liability” during his days at the Gunners.
Asked to reflect on the Liverpool legend’s comments, Luiz suggested that his Premier League title win spoke louder than words.
“It is funny, some people talk about how to win the Premier League, but they have never won it,” he told MailSport. “Jamie Carragher never won the Premier League.
“They talk and say, “This player is not right for this league”. Yet I won the league. These people have forgotten the past.
“You cannot say, ‘David is a player who never won, you won’t win anything with David’. That is not true! You have to base your opinion on something real, not something fake.
“I use the word perception. That is all it is. I am not going to fight to change the perception of these people, who decide to have this view of me because they want to.
“They have not analysed me properly. I am not going to waste my time on that.”
Luiz added that he often came under the microscope due to the fact he was one of the first Premier League defenders to play in a ball-playing style that has now become the norm.
He continued: “But I will always say — every single time I trained or played, I did my best. I played with my heart. I never tried to run away from anything. I always showed my face.
“I arrived in England, at 23, and I was a defender who played from the back — no one did that, I was different. Some did not like it.
“Now, 11 years later, everyone does it… ‘Ah, isn’t he a great defender, he can play from the back!’”
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