‘Bernardo Silva is unique in the world’ – Pep Guardiola pays ultimate compliment to Man City midfielder | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has paid the ultimate compliment to midfield star Bernardo Silva following the 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday.

The Portugal international doubled Manchester City’s lead against Eddie Howe’s side at the weekend, during a stage in the game when a second goal for the hosts was of the upmost importance given the threat from the away side.

The Magpies had created several clear goalscoring opportunities throughout the 90 minutes, and largely dominated attacking proceedings early in the second-half, as they looked to cancel out Phil Foden’s fine opener after 15 minutes.

This threat from Newcastle forced Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola into a change, introducing Bernardo Silva into his midfield in place of Kevin De Bruyne – who looked to be struggling with dominating the centre of the park like he usually does.

While Saturday saw the former AS Monaco man score a vital goal, the Manchester City boss was asked about Bernardo Silva’s relatively low goal contribution statistics when compared to other midfielders, to which he responded, “Bernardo has never been a top, top scorer or top assists, but he helps us to play better.

“You want statistics? Ok, go to the big datas and congratulations, you can write a big article about that. But there are things that people don’t come in the datas, and it’s something that is unique. And Bernardo is unique, to make us – all of us – play better; be aggressive, and play our rhythm that we need to play, was better.

Pep Guardiola continued, “The game in some moments is so quick, so quick, so quick, and sometimes it’s necessary, but sometimes not. Bernardo helps us to play in a different ‘pausa’, to after make the explosion. It’s unique. Bernardo is unique in the world doing this.”

Some fans were critical of the player Bernardo Silva replaced on Saturday afternoon too, with Kevin De Bruyne’s standards in recent matches having seemingly dropped below par when compared to his usually exceptional standards.

On this very subject, Pep Guardiola explained, “Always these are the standards of Kevin, in the sky. Everyone knows this is his level. Kevin has, in one week, another opportunity to show his quality.

“He was delighted for the victory we had (against Newcastle), and this is what they have to do. Come back to the principles, work hard, and everything is going to come back without any effort. Just do your usual quality, your best, and that’s all.”