Thiago Silva finally won the Champions League title that his career deserves on Saturday night.

The Brazilian tasted heartbreak in the competition just last season when Paris Saint-Germain finally reached their first final, only to come up short in Lisbon with a 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich.

But fast-forward nine months and Silva was basking in Champions League glory in Porto as Chelsea upset the applecart with an impressive 1-0 win over Manchester City.

Silva forced off with injury

However, Silva was left to watch most of the match at the Estádio do Dragão from the bench after being forced off with a groin injury in the first 40 minutes.

And the final must have been all the more nerve-wracking from the Brazilian's perspective because he was no longer able to make an impact having been replaced by Andreas Christensen.

Or is that strictly the case? Well, as is often the case with veteran players who are taken off in big games, Silva did everything in his power to make sure that his influence was still felt.

Live show for the England Squad Announcement (Football Terrace)

Making his presence felt

You know the drill: John Terry holding Chelsea's hands through the final moments of their Napoli comeback in 2012 and an injured Cristiano Ronaldo still getting involved in the Euro 2016 climax.

And Chelsea's resident world-class defender was up to similar tricks last weekend with footage emerging on social media that shows just how enthusiastic he was to help his Blues teammates.

The video shared by Twitter user @Hazdinho jokes that Silva served as 'Chelsea’s assistant manager' and has amassed more than 2,000 retweets and 11,000 'likes' at the time of writing.

Silva being 'Chelsea's assistant manager'

The superb one-minute clip shows Silva encouraging his teammates, giving them tactical advice, congratulating substituted players and going through all the emotions of such a high-pressure game.

It really does make for fascinating viewing, so be sure to check out the video down below:

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call a leader.

A fantastic signing for Chelsea

Of all the signings that Chelsea made during their shopping spree last summer, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Silva has been the most important of the bunch for what he brings to the squad.

Even if Silva hadn't been dropping world-class performances all season long - which he has, by the way - his impact on the dressing room would still have been worth its weight in gold.

We are, of course, talking about one of the best leaders and centre-backs of his generation, so it's no wonder that he was pulling the strings so effectively even when he wasn't playing in Porto.

And with the reward coming in the form of conquering Europe, I think it's fair to say that Silva wasn't just barking 'man on', 'bung it in row Z' and 'let's pretend it's 0-0, lads' from the sidelines.