Bernardo Silva has fulfilled many roles during his seven-year stint at Manchester City. He has played as a winger, a central midfielder, a No 10, a false nine and even as an emergency full back.
On Saturday he had a different job. He was a ballboy. For the last 23 minutes of City’s demolition of Luton Town, Silva and Rodri stood on the touchline, watching events unfold with a smile.
The duo had started to warm up in 67th minute, but after doing a few stretches they gave up and just watched the match, 20 yards to the left of Pep Guardiola’s technical area.
With City’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid coming up on Wednesday, they knew there was no chance of Guardiola bringing them on, so they just stood there, arms folded, like a managerial duo.
When the ball went out on the near side, either Silva or Rodri quickly picked another ball off a nearby plastic cone and handed it to one of their team-mates. Silva also clapped as Erling Haaland’s well-struck penalty hit the back of the net to put City 3-1 up. When Jérémy Doku slalomed into the box and pinged his shot into the far corner, Silva and Rodri punched the air simultaneously.
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They were enjoying the show so much that Silva ignored Jack Grealish’s pleas to return to the bench to keep him company.
Although City won, and boosted their goal difference, arguably the most pleasing aspect of the afternoon was seeing Kyle Walker perform some shuttle runs behind Rodri and Silva.
Guardiola did not bring Walker off the bench but he thinks that his captain will be pushing to start Wednesday’s game after missing the past four matches because of a hamstring injury he suffered in England’s friendly defeat by Brazil.
“He feels much better but he was injured, so now we will see in the next few days [if he is fit to play],” the City manager said. “But he feels good. Maybe he can help with minutes because it is a ‘final’ but I don’t want to lose him for a long time if he gets injured.
“He will train a bit more now and we will decide. I know how important Kyle is against the players from Real Madrid.”
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Guardiola went on to praise the efforts of Manuel Akanji, who played at right back in Madrid, but he knows deep down that the Switzerland defender, normally a centre back, struggled in the first leg.
Real targeted Akanji, throwing both Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo down the left wing, and he could not deal with their pace. Even at the age of 33, Walker is one of the quickest defenders around and he performed superbly last year against Vinícius, who played 27 minutes as a substitute in Real’s 1-0 win over Mallorca on Saturday. Rodrygo was an unused substitute.
Guardiola reported some more good news from the treatment room, adding that John Stones was “fine” and only missed the Luton game due to “niggles”.
Guardiola also revealed that, like Walker, Nathan Aké, who has been out for a fortnight with a calf injury, asked to be on the bench. That raises the possibility of Guardiola having a full-strength squad to choose from for Wednesday’s match, which comes eight days after the 3-3 draw in Madrid.
Guardiola’s first-choice XI would look something like: Ederson — Walker, Dias, Stones, Aké — Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne — Foden, Haaland, Grealish.
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Only two players in that team, Rúben Dias and Ederson, played 90 minutes on Saturday. Walker, Silva, Rodri, Phil Foden and Grealish were unused substitutes, so they should be fully fit and ready to go against Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Playing his first match since March 10, Ederson looked sharp, and that too was the case for Kevin De Bruyne, who was left out of the team against Real on Tuesday because of illness. In the opening 25 minutes, De Bruyne reminded us of the damage he can do with his threaded passes into the area.
De Bruyne is not as fit as he was when he orchestrated the 4-0 battering at the Etihad Stadium last season but if he does start on Wednesday he will still be the most creative player on the pitch, such is his talent.
In terms of their mentality, City could not be in better condition, according to Guardiola, who is starting to feel the same kind of positivity from his players that he felt during the latter stages of last year’s Treble triumph.
“They like the pressure,” Guardiola said. “They like it when you are dead or alive. That doesn’t mean we are going to do it but I am pretty sure we will be there until the end because I know them, I see their faces in the meetings before games and how they prepare.
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“That means we’ll be Premier League champions? No, no. I am not saying that. But we will compete, that is for sure.”
Manchester City (3) v Real Madrid (3)
Champions League quarter-final second leg
Wednesday, kick-off 8pm
Etihad Stadium
TV TNT Sports