Thiago Silva has made clear his feelings on Chelsea missing out on Champions League football.
The 38-year-old has won the competition with the Blues, in 2021, but this season will be watching from his sofa for the first time since moving to European football in 2009, a record dating back 15 seasons.
Chelsea finished 12th last season to see them miss out on a place at Europe's top table, with the new season starting on Tuesday as former club AC Milan hosted Newcastle United.
Just a few minutes into the game, Silva tagged the official Champions League account on X, formerly known as Twitter, followed by a tearful emoji. To hammer down the point, he has since pinned the post to the top of his profile.
Silva has previously been vocal about his disappointment at the club's direction under the Boehly-Clearlake ownership, telling reporters after their exit to Real Madrid last season: "I think the first step has been made. An incorrect step, but it has been made. We can't blame the managers if we don't take responsibility. It's a hard period for the club, with a lot of indecision.
"Change of ownership, new players arriving – we had to increase the size of the changing room because it didn't fit the size of the squad. A positive point is that there are amazing players in the squad but on the other hand there are always players that are going to be unhappy.
"There is always going to be someone upset because not everyone can play. The manager can only pick 11 from a squad of 30-something – that's tough. Some can't make the squad, we signed eight in January, we need to stop and put a strategy in place otherwise next season we could make the same mistakes."
Interestingly, Silva has seemingly not been included in Chelsea's new leadership group - a decision of his or the club's - despite his remarkable experience. Reece James, Ben Chilwell and Conor Gallagher have all taken the captain's armband this season while the Brazilian has been on the pitch.
