1 day ago
29
Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva has explained why he refuses to participate in any guard of honor after drawing criticism for failing to clap Liverpool in 2020.
"In my opinion, [the guard of honor is] kind of a hypocrisy," Silva said. "It’s not a tradition we have in Portugal. If they want to do it, they can do it.
"But I wasn’t going to clap Liverpool because that’s not how I celebrate defeat. When I win a title, I don’t need anyone else to clap for me. I’m a bad loser. I hate losing. I played 12 years at Benfica, and they taught us not to be happy if you lose."
Five years on, Liverpool was clapped onto the field by Chelsea, Brighton, Spurs, and Crystal Palace in the final four matches of last season, having wrapped up the Premier League title with four games to spare.
And Silva has promised that Manchester City will be back in contention again this season. Last year, it finished 13 points behind the Reds, having struggled early in the campaign before a huge January spend.
"There’s a lot of guilt among the players, in the manager, in everyone for not doing better last season," Silva, speaking to The Times, said. "A team with our experience, with our quality, even with [the injuries we had], we cannot go down as easily as we did.
"We should have done better to overcome this situation. About competing for the title, we didn’t even give it a try."
Since the start of the calendar year, Manchester City has made substantial changes. It has spent upwards of $500M in the transfer market, and Pep Guardiola has also changed his assistant, turning to former Liverpool coach Pep Lijnders.
However, the Etihad side has also lost Rodri to another injury, which could keep him out until the next international break. And it played at the summer's Club World Cup, which added even more minutes to the players' legs.
At some point, as it will for Chelsea, who won the tournament, the extra competitive matches in the USA this summer will surely have an impact on those who featured.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Liverpool begins its new Premier League campaign with a home game against Bournemouth on Friday. Before the end of the month, it will also have played both Newcastle United and Arsenal.
Manchester City has Wolves away on Saturday. It then hosts Spurs the week after, before finishing August with a trip to Brighton. Its first fixtures in September are against Manchester United and Arsenal.
Liverpool.com says: Manchester City will be a threat in the title race again this season. Liverpool has improved at least as much on paper, though, so it will be Guardiola's side playing catch-up and with the most work to do.
English (US) ·