David Luiz is, unironically, one of my favorite Chelsea players of all time, and on Wednesday night, he will return to Stamford Bridge, and receive (hopefully) the hero’s welcome that he deserves. Of course, It won’t be the first time the now 38-year-old real life video game character returns since leaving (for the second time) over six years ago. He’s played here (and scored) with PSG prior to that; he’s played here with Arsenal since then. In fact, he’s never played at the Bridge against Chelsea and lost.
But there’s a first time for everything — even for a man who’s literally won it all — and that time for a defeat might be (should be) now. Then again, he may miss out with an injury.
David’s current team, Cypriot First Division champions Pafos FC, were the second-lowest ranked team to qualify for this year’s Champions League “league-phase”, though thanks to the investments they’ve made in their playing squad, they are still in contention for the knockout rounds with six points from their first six games. They may have only won one of those six, but they have also only lost two. They have conceded only one goal more than we have (nine versus eight), but have scored only four: only Slavia Prague have scored fewer (two).
Chelsea meanwhile, sitting on ten points, are just about assured of a playoff spot, but could yet finish in the top-eight by winning our final two league-phase games. Napoli away on the final matchday will be very tough, and could decide our fates depending on the outcome of this game. Beat Pafos and we would be fighting for a bye; lose to Pafos and we would be fighting for survival.
So, all to play for, with high stakes.
Date / Time: Wednesday, January 21, 2026, 20.00 GMT; 3pm EST; 1:30am IST (next day)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Referee: Erik Lambrechts (on pitch); Carlos del Cerro Grande (VAR)
Forecast: pouring down rain
On TV: TNT Sports 3 (UK); none (USA); Sony TEN 5 (India); SuperSport MáXimo 3 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: discovery+ (UK); Paramount+ (USA); Sony LIV (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Chelsea team news: There was some good news from head coach Liam Rosenior in the pre-match press conference, with Estêvão, Jamie Gittens, and Malo Gusto all back in training following illness and injury. Whether they’ll be ready to play is another question, with similar fitness concerns also hanging over Cole Palmer after he looked to be favoring his groin at the end of Saturday’s game, and over Reece James after he played nearly that entire match as well. Also, Enzo Fernández had pushed to play through the illness that’s been going around the team and has been limited in training this week.
“Who else was it? There’s so many. So yeah […] there’s a few coughs, they’re working really, really hard, like I said. It’s not just at this club, many clubs at the moment at this time of year you’re going to get that and it’s about making sure the players are right for the game tomorrow.”
-Liam Rosenior; source: Chelsea FC
This will be the first Champions League match for the new boss. Each one of his first four games has been in a different competition, which is probably pretty rare — we’ve won two and lost one, which is an improvement on what had come just before.
Incidentally, this will be our first Champions League home game since that 3-0 win against Barcelona under Enzo Maresca. Hard to believe, but that was less than two months ago. Things can change pretty quickly in football!
Pafos team news: Speaking of changes, Pafos have risen from literal inception in 2014 to European football in just a short decade, helped massively by the investment of a man named Roman. Their Roman, Roman Dubov, a naturalized UK citizen born in Hungary to Russian parents took ownership of the team in 2017 with the stated intention of carrying them to the European stage. He invested in their academy, their stadium, their entire operation, brought in big names to coach and play … and now here they are! Their Roman is still at the helm, and wanting even more.
As mentioned at the top, one of those big signings, David Luiz may miss out through injury. Another David in defense, David Goldar is also out, as is midfielder João Correia. Like Chelsea, they’ve also had a big change at the helm recently, with Juan Carlos Carcedo resigning at the start of the month after 30 months in charge, to take the job at Spartak Moscow. Albert Celades, a man who once played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, has been appointed in his stead. This will be his third game in charge.
Their leading goalscorer is a forward named Anderson Silva (not the MMA fighter), who used to play in the Portuguese league before brief stints in China and Turkey. A more familiar name for football reasons might be Mislav Oršić, a long-time Dinamo Zagreb player who also once had a cup of coffee at Southampton, or midfielder Ken Sema, who represented Watford for several years, including a couple seasons in the Premier League. Their goalkeeper, Jay Gorter was an Ajax youngster and backup and defensive midfielder Ivan Šunjić spent four fruitful years at Birmingham City in the Championship.
Last but not least, there’s midfielder Domingos Quina, once a Chelsea prospect (and very highly rated by some), whose departure to West Ham United in 2016 was hailed by some as a sign of the end times for our Cobham Academy. Obviously, that was not the case and just a couple years later, Quina would be on the move once again, this time to Watford where a succession of loans awaited him. He joined Pafos in 2024 where he’s finally gotten a chance to establish himself now in his mid-20s, and has scored 8 goals in 62 appearances so far.
Previously: Considering that Pafos have existed for only about a dozen years and this is their second season in Europe, it’s no surprise that this is our first ever meeting against them. That said, they did play in the UEFA Conference League last season, reaching the Round of 16, where they lost to Djurgårdens … who would eventually face us in the semifinals! Anyway, let’s remember David Luiz (Mk.I):
