Pep Guardiola praised the 'f****** intuitive' Bernardo Silva as he defended the way his Manchester City side set up in the first and second legs against RB Leipzig.
City could only manage a 1-1 draw in Germany last month after being pegged back in the second half, but the manager took to the pitch on the final whistle to tell the players to hold their heads up high and spoke afterwards in the media about how proud he was of the performance. Erling Haaland scored an incredible five goals in the return leg to see the contest turn into a rout at the Etihad.
If Haaland took the headlines, Guardiola was thrilled with the entire team performance and explained how it had taken the first 90 minutes for him to be able to work out how to exploit Leipzig. Chief to Guardiola's plan in the second leg was Bernardo, who may have caused ripples on social media by starting ahead of the popular Riyad Mahrez but showed exactly why he was trusted to break the Leipzig build-up with another all-action performance.
Also read: Guardiola explains why he denied Haaland double hat-trick chance
"Why don't I play Riyad? Why Don't I play Phil [Foden] or [Aymeric] Laporte? I win, I am right. I lose, I am wrong," he said.
"It's not about that. I have a lot of info that all of you - including the fans - don't have. I have experience, I have experience of the players and whatever.
"Two weeks before against Leipzig we were not ready and what a disaster of a second half or whatever. Maybe we don't play the level we play but Champions League away is completely different.
"The pressure and many things we have to consider and in that game we needed a slow game. We didn't have Kevin [De Bruyne] with illness so we could not make transitions.
"With others, we need a more controlled game because I didn't want transitions against Leipzig. Today I can accept it.
"We adjusted something that we struggled with in the first game, contact with the central defenders. Today Bernardo defended that pass incredibly well.
"That's why [David] Raum and [Benjamin] Henrichs couldn't drop us but sometimes you need to play a game to realise the things. Am I going to say the first game was wrong? Absolutely not but I didn't help them.
"Today you have to close that pass and Bernardo is f****** intuitive. I play Bernardo because with the left side of Leipzig is amazing with [Josko] Gvardiol and Raum.
"They have the ability to make amazing buildup and Bernardo has the ability to know exactly to press three players in two movements. There is not one player in the world who can do that. It's not physicality, he is so intelligent.
"That's why he played. You say play Riyad or Phil, I have more info than my friends. Like the Twitter guys or all the people. I have more info, I'm sorry. Today I am right."
Read more:
