Uruguay never used to be known for their goalscoring abilities. In fact, half of their top 6 record all time goalscorers are still playing now.
However, over the past few years, they have brought us Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez, and now Edinson Cavani.
The 25-year-old 6ft 2 striker, put his name on the map in the 2007 South American Youth Championship, attracting most of the big names in Italian football. Late in the January of 2007, Palermo announced the signing of Cavani, who didn’t take long to make an impression. Entering the field with his team 1-0 down, just 15 minutes into his debut, he scored a peach of an equaliser, and the whole of Italy took notice.
He went onto to score 34 goals in 101 games for Palermo, before Wednesdays opponents Napoli took their chance and signed him in 2010.
To say he started his career with the Azzurri well is a bit of an understatement. He scored both goals in a Champions League win on his debut, before scoring on both away and home debuts, and then his next game aswell, taking him to 5 goals in his first 4 games.
Certain sides began to dislike Cavani, due to ability to single-handedly beat them, despite a good, competitive squad, he was thrust into the limelight, with his sensational performances.
Cesena were lucky to find Cavani on the bench, and with them leading 1-0 after an hour, Cavani got his orders and was flung into the action. In the last half hour, he set up the equaliser, before scoring two for himself, in a 4-1 turnaround.
His remarkable exploits didn’t stop there. Over 2 legs against FC Steaua Buchuresti, he scored a 97th minute equaliser, and then a 92nd minute winner to send Napoli through to the Europa League groups.
His first season looked certain to end at the top of the goalscoring charts, with him scoring 25 goals and surpassing the record for most goals by a player in a single season for Napoli, before getting sent off for against Lecce meaning he would miss the last two games of the season, and then saw Udineses Di Natale pip him at the post with 26 goals.
He has gone on to score 41 goals in just 57 games, and as well as scoring the 2nd goal in Chelseas 3-1 defeat in Naples, he also set up both other goals, making him a massive man to watch on Wednesday.
Gary Cahill may be too inexperienced to control him, but John Terry should hopefully be back and in charge of reigning the Uruguayan in, as there is little chance of David Luiz containing him.
Chelsea are in for a very tough game, with numerous attacking outlets, highlighted as they scored 6 this weekend. However, should they stop Cavani, and attack from the off, Chelsea might just have what it takes on the day.
By Bradley Smith
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