Chelsea’s Luiz played through pain barrier
David Luiz, Chelsea
The Brazilian says he was far from fully fit for the match after spending over a month on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
Luiz first returned to full training last week Tuesday, but by Thursday he was experiencing a recurrence of his injury.
He said: "I was out for 35 days and I came back but, two days before the final, I had pain again in my leg and there was a chance that maybe I wasn't going to play.
"The day before, I had a test to see if I could play and then I ended up playing 120 minutes."
Luiz insisted he had no intention of asking to be left out, something that would have left the Blues with a real defensive crisis.
"It was a bad situation but I worked hard all of my life," said the Brazil star.
"When I was a kid, this was my dream and I play with the heart and I'm so happy to end up with the Champions League."
Luiz showed no sign of discomfort when he rammed home the penalty that got Chelsea back into last night's shootout.
"I always try to help the team," he said. "I missed the final games (of the season) and I was so sad, but this penalty was waiting for me.
"I had another opportunity, I scored and I was happy with this."
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