Bernardo Silva had arrowed a shot past the hardest goalkeeper to beat in the Premier League this season. Nick Pope was the pontiff of clean sheets but Silva scored two minutes after his introduction. Pep Guardiola was more impressed by his other attributes. “To always take the ball between the legs, he has this incredible ability,” the Manchester City manager marvelled.
Guardiola has long found other ways of judging footballers. Goals and assists, he seems to suggest, are too simplistic a marker; he loves Silva and readily admits the Portuguese does not deliver many of either.
