Bernardo Silva sends warning to Real Madrid ahead of Champions League clash
Bernardo Silva says Manchester City 'do not fear' Real Madrid ahead of their UEFA Champions League semi-final clash on Tuesday evening.
City are set to reignite their Champions League rivalry with Real Madrid this week, having faced Los Blancos at the semi-final stage last season too. On that occasion, Pep Guardiola's side came out on the losing end of the tie thanks to three late goals from Rodrygo and Karim Benzema at the Santiago Bernabeu.
A sensational first leg at the Etihad Stadium ended up 4-3 in favour of City and they extended that advantage until the final minutes in Madrid - Rodrygo dramatically scoring two goals in two minutes to take the game into extra time.
Benzema then would convert a penalty to book Real Madrid's place in the final, which they would emerge triumphant in against Liverpool thanks to Vinicius Junior.
One year on, Silva, who is on the radar of Real's rivals Barcelona, has reflected on the defeat, but is adamant that City don't fear their illustrious opponents despite last season's heartache.
"We have a lot of respect for them, yes, but not any fear at all," the 28-year-old said. "Why should we fear them? We'll try to keep the momentum we've built over two months to arrive very confident to beat them, knowing they won the Champions League last season for a reason.
Read the latest Champions League news here
feed
"It's not about the badge, it's never about the badge. It's about the players that are on the pitch. If Madrid didn't have [Luka] Modric, [Toni] Kroos, Vinicius, Benzema - I could say all of them - they wouldn't win anything because the shirt doesn't do it on its own. We'd be stupid not to respect them but we have that goal knowing we lost last year in tough circumstances."
"This time we will try to make it different."
The Citizens go into the tie as one of the most in-form teams in Europe having won their last 10 games in the Premier League and enjoying an unbeaten run of 20 games in all competitions.
LISTEN NOW
On this edition of 90min's Definitive European Power Rankings, part of the 90min podcast network, Sean Walsh and Jack Gallagher discuss the top 10 teams in Europe after a busy week of football.
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!