“If you understand the game” – Bernardo Silva hits out at individual awards with theory on decision process | OneFootball

Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva is often known to be a man of football wisdom, and his latest claims revolve around the process to award individual accolades in the game.

Over the course of his time working under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, the Portugal international has firmly established himself as one of the most crucial elements of the Catalan’s processes at the Etihad Stadium.

Excelling in a variety of roles, Bernardo Silva has been utilised across the entire of Manchester City’s midfield and forward line, whilst also operating to a great degree of success in the left-back role against Arsenal on one occasion.

However, despite his reputation and popularity amongst Manchester City supporters during his seven years at the club so far, there is a common belief that Bernardo Silva is among a group of players to not get the recognition from further afield.

Speaking during a new interview with Sky Sports this week, Bernardo Silva has somewhat hit out at individual awards across football, suggesting that they are more often than not issued to strikers due to their goalscoring figures.

“Recognition is always nice. In my opinion, I give the right amount of importance to these awards,” Silva began. “Because, at the end of the day, we are playing a collective sport. Nowadays, the individual awards always go to the strikers because they have that last touch.

“But if you understand the game, a person who is inside the game, either a player or a manager, you know how important it is to have a proper goalkeeper, a proper defender, a proper midfielder and a proper striker. Not just a proper striker.”

The Manchester City midfielder continued, “Strikers do not win you titles alone. The base comes from defence. If you defend well, you will attack better.

“When I look at individual awards and I see that only the guys who score goals win the awards I feel a bit like it does not represent our sport that well.”

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is being consistently tipped to receive the Ballon d’Or at some stage in his career, whilst there is a great deal of anticipation concerning Phil Foden and his chances of taking home the prize further down the line.

However, one player snubbed consistently by individual accolades both at home and on the European stage is Manchester City’s Rodri – arguably the club’s most important player when it comes to their system.

This season in particular saw Rodri put together one of the most remarkable undefeated runs ever seen in the game, going 74 matches without ending up on the losing side at Manchester City, stretching back into last season.