by Pep Guardiola has a great football reputation that comes from the various conquests he adds and the football he works on his teams because he is the coach that he is. Then again, she’s equally famous as a friend of the praise trigger, with little ceremony when asked to talk about her own players or someone else’s team. Spain is like that, bursting with praise that seems to come from the core when a footballer falls in love with it.
This is the case of Bernardo Silva.
Already several times since 2017, Guardiola has had good words for the Portuguese player. In his sixth season at Manchester City, the manager occasionally, usually in press conferences, extols the qualities of Bernardo Silva and did so again this Thursday, two days after the player started in the 7-0 implemented against RB Leipzig. , in the 2nd matchday of the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Asked about the Portuguese’s ownership on the right, who serves more as a winger than as a thinker of the ball in the center of the pitch, where he has played most this season, Guardiola offered an explanation in his usual rapid-fire speech:We had to defend that pass and sometimes you have to play a game to realize things. And Bernardo is super intuitive, I play with Bernardo because the left side of Leipzig is incredible with Guardiol and Raum, they have the ability to create big spaces.”
Leaving a not-so-shy tip to “Twitter people and all others” for having “more information”, the coach justified why he played the Portuguese: “Bernardo has the ability to know exactly how to press three players in two moves. There is no player in the world capable of doing that, no one. It’s not the physique, he’s so smart. That’s why it plays.”
In part, Guardiola was debating who he would back to start Riyad Mahrez, the left-hander who is arguably City’s most accomplished winger, with 12 goals, seven assists and an uncanny sense of goal. “If I win, I’m right. If I lose, I’m wrong. It’s not like that. I have a lot of information that all of you, including the fans, don’t have. I have the experience with the players and everything. Two weeks ago they said we weren’t ready, that the second half was a disaster and anything. We may not have played at our usual level, but it was an away game in the Champions League, with pressure and more. We needed a slow game, I didn’t want transitions against Leipzig, today I can accept that,” explained the Spaniard.
Pep Guardiola also mocked the football fado that every manager wears – “If I win, I’m right. If I lose, I’m wrong” -, supporting the myopia of evaluating a coach solely based on results: “It’s not like that. I have a lot of information that all of you, including the fans, don’t have.” So I did, Guardiola has been watching Bernardo Silva train every day for a couple of years. And, again, he was full of praise for the Portuguese.
