‘Really dark’ – City dressing room reaction as Champions League hopes in tatters
Bernardo Silva spoke after Manchester City were beaten by Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 first leg
Pep Guardiola consoles Bernardo Silva after Manchester City were beaten by Real Madrid
Bernardo Silva felt Manchester City lost control of the contest as they slumped to defeat by Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The Blues were undone by a Fedi Valverde first-half hat-trick to lose 3-0 and although Gianluigi Donnarumma kept out a Vini Jr penalty after the break, City could not find a way back into the contest to leave them a mountain to climb in Tuesday’s Etihad return.
Both Bernardo and boss Pep Guardiola didn’t feel City’s performance was a particularly poor one but the skipper admitted it was a deflating result.
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“It is quite frustrating [we didn’t score], even though we believe it is still possible because in football a lot of things can happen, at half-time we were saying, ‘the situation is bad’ there were a lot of things that shouldn’t have happened but with one goal you are in the tie,” said Bernardo.
“At 3-0 it makes it a bit more difficult. Now it feels really bad, now it feels really dark. Tomorrow is another day and for sure next week we will go to the game thinking we have a chance.
“Right now is the moment to reflect and see what we didn’t do right. Then next week when we are preparing we will be hopeful we can do something.”
On the game itself, the City skipper added: “It is difficult to speak about it because I would need to watch it again. My feeling on the pitch was that we started the game well.
“The environment we could not control and I think my team let the emotions change the game. We felt comfortable and were finding the right spaces but after conceding the first one we lost completely the control, we stopped controlling transitions and second balls. When you play against Real Madrid with the quality they have you pay the price.
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“It is a tough stadium to play at. We are used to playing at these stadiums because playing at Anfield and St James’ Park is very tough.
“You need to go through these moments to become better and today was just a learning game for the whole team.”