Manchester City captain Bernando Silva has revealed the pride and honour that comes with leading the club.
The Portugal international was selected as the club’s new captain ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup by manager Pep Guardiola, after the departure of Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, with Ruben Dias, Rodri and Erling Haaland to serve as vice-captains.
Speaking after the victory of Juventus as the Cityzens secured knockout qualification at the ongoing tournament, Silva opened up on what wearing the armband means to him.
He said; “It’s probably one of the biggest honours of my career. I’m going to start my ninth season at the club. We went through a lot of fantastic moments and some disappointments as well.
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All that experience, I will try to pass it to the younger guys. But the leadership in a team, it’s not about one guy.
It’s not about me, it’s not about the last captain or the captain two or three or four years ago. It’s about each one of us being our own leader and helping the guy next to us in the dressing room”, he continued.
“I’m counting on Ruben, on Rodri, on Erling, on all the guys to help me,” Silva added.
“Because I will need that help to help the team achieve a lot of things and hopefully win titles.”
The former Premier League champions made light work of their Italian opponents when both sides met in their group finale to determine the group winners.
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Jeremy Doku opened the scoring before an uncharacteristic error by Ederson allowed Juventus to equalize through Teun Koopmeiners.
An own goal by Pierre Kalulu put Pep Guardiola’s side back ahead before second half goals from substitutes Erling Haaland and Phil Foden put the results beyond doubts.
Brazilian winger Savinho added a fifth with a screamer from outside the area before Dusan Vlahovic reduced the margin by scoring Juventus’ second goal as the game finished 5-2 in favor of Manchester City.
“We’re very happy with what we did against a top team. It was our best performance at this tournament. I don’t know if it’s a statement win, it’s just three points. We’re happy to be here and qualify for the last 16”, the Portugal midfielder stated.
“We’re here to win so we’re one step closer to that goal. It’s now kill or be killed. We have to be ready.”
Manchester City will face Al-Hilal in the next phase of the competition, with the winner going on to face Inter Milan or Fluminense in the quarterfinals.
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