Manchester City have a strong squad at the Club World Cup and the strength they have on the bench made an impact against Juventus.
Bernardo Silva during Manchester City's win over Juventus
Bernardo Silva during Manchester City's win over Juventus
(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Bernardo Silva wants Manchester City to maintain a deep squad all season after hailing the strength in depth that made an impact in the stunning win against Juventus.
The Blues turned on the style to beat Juve 5-2 in Orlando and secure top spot in Group G, with two of their substitutes scoring in what was an impressive all-round display.
Pep Guardiola left Rayan Cherki, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland on the bench, but Foden and Haaland came on to score, after Oscar Bobb and Cherki also came off the bench to find the back of the net against Al Ain.
Guardiola wants to trim his squad this summer and even some of the 24 outfield players who have travelled to the United States could leave, as well as those not involved such as Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips and James McAtee, but Bernardo wants the kind of depth currently on show to be maintained, allowing City to maintain the tempo as they did at the Camping World Stadium.
"We have a big squad, especially in this tournament, hopefully for the season," said Bernardo. "The impact that these players have had, not just on this game, but on other games as well, has been massive.
"Once again today the guys that came from the bench, they helped us a lot. And you need everyone to be successful."
Content Image
Content Image
The win also saw Rodri come through 65 minutes on his first start since suffering a cruciate injury in September and the Spaniard looked sharp against the Serie A giants.
"I don't need to talk a lot about Rodri," said Bernardo/ "His career speaks for itself. He's really important for us. Hopefully he can get his fitness better and better to be back and to be at his best form because we really need him."
Victory for City means they qualify top of the group and are likely to avoid a showdown with Real Madrid in the last-16, but Bernardo is setting his sights on lifting the trophy in New York in two weeks.
"It's an important win because it makes us qualify first. I don't know if it's a statement win or not, it's three points," said Bernardo.
"We're happy to be in the United States, we're happy to have qualified for the last 16. And we're in this tournament to win, so we're one step closer to that goal.
"Now it's kill or be killed. And we have to be ready for this next stage of important games. And we're going to prepare well."
Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clickinghere to subscribe.
You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Clickhere to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.
And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, includingSpotify andApple Podcasts, and you can also watch along onYouTube.