Thiago Silva sets record for oldest ever Chelsea goalscorer with goal against Manchester City

There were many great and fantastic and absolutely delightful moments in last night’s 4-4 draw against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, but Thiago Silva’s goal and subsequent celebration were certainly right at or near the very top.

It came early on, the first time (of three!) that we fought back from a one-goal deficit to equalize, but Silva’s perfectly placed angled header on Conor Gallagher’s corner was fantastic indeed, and was only topped by Silva’s tremendous knee slide and accompanying roar that probably was heard round the football world.

As pointed out by Chelsea’s social media accounts, Thiago Silva also set a new club record with that strike, becoming our oldest ever goalscorer at age 39 (39 years and 51 days, to be exact). Silva went without a goal last season — a rare occurrence in his lengthy, legendary career — but he’s usually good to chip in with a few (often at crucial times of course) and now has six in his Blues career.

Chelsea’s previous oldest record goalscorer was Dick Spence, who netted against Wolves back in 1947, aged 38 years and 282 days. Our previous oldest goalscorer in the Premier League was Didier Drogba, aged 37 years and 49 days when he scored against Leicester City at the end of the 2014-15 season — though Silva already broke that when he scored against Spurs back in January 2022.

Silva’s now also the oldest goalscorer in the league this season, but he has a bit more to go to catch Teddy Sheringham, who holds the Premier League record at 40 years and 264 days. Silva is fourth on that all-time list, behind Sheringham, Dean Windass, and Ryan Giggs.

In any case, congrats (and thank you), Thiago!