David Luiz has highlighted his father's influence as he launches his career with Chelsea.
The 23-year-old has been officially unveiled by Chelsea ahead of his first Premier League start at Fulham on Monday night.
And he was quick to pay tribute to his dad Ladislao, who was an emerging playmaker for top Brazilian team Atletico Mineiro before giving it all up to become a teacher.
Luiz explained: "My father played professionally for Mineiro until he was 20 but had to stop because there was not enough money to support his wife, his parents and his children.
"Like my mother, he became a schoolteacher and they worked every day to give the best possible life to me and my sister.
"I grew up in an area of Sao Paulo called Diadema. It is a hard place but many normal working people grow up in the same conditions in Brazil.
"When I started playing, father said he wanted me to live the dream which he could not. He was my hero as a boy and he always will be.
"At the age of 14 I left home to start my football career with Vitoria, 36 hours away from Sao Paulo in the north of the country.
"I told my parents I would only come back when I could afford to give them the lives they deserved.
"And now, thank God, I have managed to do that. Now I am the main source of support for my family and I will always do that."
