Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva has suggested that the Blues' Portuguese players are used to playing a different way to Manchester United's Portuguese stars ahead of the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
Bernardo has made 72 appearances for his country and has been included in Fernando Santos' squad for the World Cup in Qatar alongside City teammates Joao Cancelo and Ruben Dias, as well as United players Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes.
The 28-year-old started for Pep Guardiola's side in the 6-3 derby victory over Erik ten Hag's men in October, with a number of Portugal's other first-choice players also in action at the Etihad Stadium. While Bernardo is excited about the upcoming tournament in Qatar, he has admitted that it takes time to get people on the same page after being away with their respective clubs.
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"It's a different kind of football (for the national team)," Bernardo told FIFA. "Every coach has to adapt his style to the players he has. But obviously the work done at club level is different to the national team.
"At your club, you can work with your players every day all year round. For the national team, the players come from all over the place, with their teams playing different styles, and you have to all be on the same wavelength, which isn’t easy.
"For example, Cancelo, Ruben and I are at Manchester City who play one way. Cristiano, Dalot and Bruno are at Manchester United who play differently.
"And it’s the same with the guys from Benfica, Porto, Sporting and Wolverhampton. It’s not an easy job getting everyone on the same page."
Bernardo also backed Ronaldo to deliver at the upcoming tournament, claiming that it is "natural" for the 37-year-old to play due to his ability to decide a game at any point.
He said: "The reality is, when you've got a player like Cristiano, it's natural that sometimes you play for him because he can win you the game in the final minutes.
"The same goes for other countries. It's natural, for example, that France always look to [Kylian] Mbappe because he can decide a match at any time. Brazil have Neymar and with Argentina it's Lionel Messi.
"When you have these kinds of players on your side, you have to take advantage of them, although I agree you can't become overdependent on them as this can disrupt the team dynamics. But, if we get it right, having Cristiano in our team will be a powerful weapon."
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