Manchester City star Bernardo Silva hits back angrily at critics

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva hits back at critics of an aging City squad and angrily refutes claims that he and his teammates are past their best.

Silva has launched a fierce defence of Man City in a furious reaction to questions about the ageing squad as he fires a warning to critics, asking – “Give me names.”

City are enduring its worst campaign since Pep Guardiola arrived in the dugout in 2016 but showed they can still finish the season strongly by winning the FA Cup, after staging an impressive comeback to beat Bournemouth on Sunday to reach the semi-finals.

City’s aging squad has been cited as a big factor in them losing 15 games in all competitions, but the Portuguese midfielder has fiercely defended himself and his teammates in a post-match interview with reporters.

Against Bournmouth on Sunday, City had four players out of the front six aged over 30 or over, with Kevin De Bruyne at 33 and Ilkay Gundogan at 34.

City started the game awfully on a bad run in the first half before turning the game around, with Silva helping his side utterly dominating play, limiting Bournemouth to zero shots in the second period.

when Asked by reporters about people questioning the team’s average age, Bernardo fired back.

Man City midfielder Bernardo Silva hit at critics on City’s ‘aging squad’ comment (Image credit: Man City)

“Tell me, which player? Give me names,” he told reporters. “I’m 30 years old, Kovacic is 30 years old. You’re not talking about guys that are 36.

“So we have six bad months or four bad months and out of nowhere we’re old, we’re not good enough?

“In the last eight seasons, we’ve won six Premier Leagues and for four bad months, we’re old?

“That’s people that don’t understand the game, never played the game and probably don’t understand a thing about football,” said Silva.

City are almost about to record lowest points total since Guardiola took charge and the coach’s lowest points total in 16 years of elite management.

However, they will be encouraged by making it to the FA Cup semi-finals for a seventh year running, meeting Nottingham Forest in their last-four tie at Wembley next month.

When asked about the prospects of making it to Wembley despite a poor start to the fixture, the 30-year-old responded,

“Wembley is a very special venue, it’s always nice to be there,” Silva said.

“We were in two finals the last two years against Man Utd, one we managed to win, last season we lost.

“We want to be there again, fighting for the title, knowing it’s not easy, because we played Forest in the semi-final and they’re having a great season, but we have to put our energy into that.”

City can boost their bid to finish in the Premier League’s top five and ensure they qualify for next season’s Champions League when they host struggling Leicester on Wednesday.

Bernardo believes the team will make a strong comeback next year and force their critics to eat humble pie.

He further told reporters, “We’re going to prove them wrong. We have time for that. We’re a bit late for this season, just maybe in a few competitions, but we’ll be back, don’t worry.”