For the second week in a row, Bernardo Silva let his exasperation known on the pitch.
The Manchester City star gave officials both barrels at Anfield when their goal was disallowed last Sunday and this Saturday he made Craig Pawson know exactly how much of a penalty he thought he was owed in the two minutes between the foul happening and the referee overturning his original decision. While the player is far more chilled off the pitch, the fire he continues to show in a City shirt is why his name continues to be sung by Blues every week.
Bernardo has always been 100 per cent committed to the cause, ready to run through brick walls for the team, and even when his head has been turned in the transfer market it has not affected his performances. Barcelona's failure to move for him this summer when they chose to spend over £130m on other players instead has already given City more gains in a player who is undeniably a winner.
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"Emotions after the game are always a bit warm - and during the game as well!" he said. "Everyone wants to win, sometimes we complain, the other team complains and the referee complains to us as well. We just shout at each other. It’s football: it’s passion, it’s emotion. We felt that last week the decision went against us, this week it went for us and when it doesn’t go your way it is frustrating, that is normal.
"If you don’t care about the situations it is not good. It means you don’t care. Wanting the decisions to go your way means that you want to win.
"I have both eyes on winning the Premier League and trying to win the Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup. At the end of the season we will see what happens but right now I’m going to give my best for the club, I’ve been so happy here since I arrived and will give me best as long as I play here. I am focused and want to help this team and my teammates."
If the passion and energy that Bernardo brings to the side are obvious qualities, that should not take away from the football brain that makes him so adaptable in Pep Guardiola's system. The player reckons he is best as a No.8, although he has also thrived in the team as a false nine, a wide forward and even as a double pivot.
Those numbers don't account for in-game situations either, such as five minutes into Saturday's game when he realised Brighton were unexpectedly marking them man-to-man and that the closer Bernardo as a No.8 was to Erling Haaland the less room City's No.9 would have to operate in. Fifteen minutes after a touchline chat involving Haaland Bernardo, Ederson and Ruben Dias, Bernardo was next to Rodri in front of his own penalty area when he knocked the ball back for Ederson to assist Haaland for the first goal.
That level of technical understanding is why - contrary to some claims - City have never been pushing for Bernardo to leave and were delighted when no serious offer arrived for the player this summer. While he may not get the headlines of others, it is not hard to see why someone so versatile and selfless (but still fiercely determined) is so treasured by Guardiola.
"When you’re on the pitch and you play right wing you know where you want your players to be, so I know exactly what it feels to be a right winger," he said. "If I play right midfielder I know what to do to make my right winger feel more comfortable in the pressing, in the build-up to give him more space to attack.
"So to play in different positions - false 9, right wing, offensive midfielder, a bit more defensive midfielder - it gives me this understanding to know what my team-mates want from me for them to be better. My job honestly is to make my team-mates better because I know that with the players that we have up front.
"If the defenders and midfielders control the game, with the players that we’ve got up front, with Kevin [De Bruyne], with Erling, with Jack [Grealish], with Riyad [Mahrez], the chances of winning the game are very big so if we do our job properly and make them comfortable and give them balls to run and chances to score we are going to win those games."
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