Pep Guardiola was full of praise for his Manchester City captain after their 2-1 comeback win over Liverpool in the Premier League.
Bernardo Silva made it 1-1
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Pep Guardiola hailed Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva for inspiring their 2-1 comeback victory over Liverpool. The Blues skipper scored their equaliser and played the ball through for Matheus Nunes that won the penalty for Erling Haaland to score in injury time.
That turned the game - and the second half in particular - on its head. City had enjoyed themselves in the first half at Anfield but succumbed to a familiar story and Dominik Szoboszlai's rocket put Liverpool ahead. Yet again, it looked like poor decisions in the final third were going to cost City precious points in the title race.
“The first half was exceptional but many times we are not composed enough in the final third, a little bit more calm to take the right decisions," said Guardiola. "In the boxes you have to take a coffee, as a defender and as a striker, and we are so ugghhh, all the actions, always arrive one metre before or one metre later, never in the spot," he said.
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"But we are so young in many, many things and second half, we knew that they would push a little bit more, in the first half we played some long balls and we fought and Omar and Erling they were there because I know it’s an incredibly difficult task (against) Konate and Van Dijk to win those balls, but the second half not even try. That ball goes quick, it comes back quicker. And after that we allowed the crowd to be involved. After, hats off to Szoboszlai, it was a copy-paste of the Arsenal one."
It looked like a familiar tale of hard luck for City at Anfield, with Guardiola having only enjoyed one victory in his previous ten visits here with the Blues. That was before the team rallied and, led by Silva, produced a memorable comeback that leaves them still fighting in this Premier League title race.
"At the end, being guided by our incredible player, one of the best players I ever trained - our captain Bernardo. We follow him, I follow him too. Because when a player always puts the team in front of him and does things through his own example, everybody follows him.
"Me the first, and he scored the first one and made the assist for the penalty to Matheus and yeah, we won finally. I would say at Anfield, always it’s so difficult and I’m happy for the result for the guys, because we were there. From the beginning I said OK, I know Liverpool always start strong, we have to start stronger. The first who punches will have more chance to win the game."