Sublime, dreamy, flawless... it’s no wonder ball whisperer Silva is revered by his team-mates
AYMERIC LAPORTE, pretty much for the first time all afternoon, had to break into something resembling a sprint.
He was chasing David Silva, determined to shake his hand before the captain swapped places with Phil Foden in the mickey-taking embers of a procession.
Benjamin Mendy followed. Silva is a player not admired by his colleagues but revered.
He is revered for many reasons, not least of which is the fortitude he showed when his son Mateo had to spend five months in hospital after being born five months prematurely.
Before one game last season, Pep Guardiola told his team: “We have to win for David and his girlfriend.
“He’s f***ing suffering in life. When you go out there and enjoy it, you enjoy it for him. If we go out there and we suffer, suffer for him.”
Ahead of a one-sided derby, Silva said he would be “grateful forever” for that sort of support.
If gratitude can be shown in sublime, dreamy, flawless performances, this was one hell of a thank-you.
The finish for City’s first goal, and his third in consecutive games, was his most violent piece of work of the day.
The rest was pure finesse. This is Silva’s ninth season in the Premier League and it is hard to name a better midfielder in that time. You certainly cannot name a better passer. The guy is a ball whisperer. He does not ping his passes, he persuades them, coaxing them into corridors spotted only by his eye.
That he was responsible for only four of the 44 passes that preceded Ilkay Gundogan’s game-settling tap-in was the one surprise of the match.
Silva, promoted to skipper when
Vincent Kompany can only make the bench, sets the standards for this marvellous team.
He is not a Guardiola recruit but he is his manager’s flag-bearer on the field, always yearning for possession even in the tightest of spots.
Put David Silva on Bernardo Silva’s shoulders and they might just make Marouane Fellaini.
But to watch the Silvas weave in and out of the monoliths in Manchester United’s midfield was mesmeric. David, though, is not prone to the odd loose pass, as Bernardo is.
Next weekend, having retired from international football, Silva will perform a ceremonial kick-off in Spain’s game against Bosnia.
It will probably be a peach of a pass.
He does not turn 33 until January and his country must wonder if there was another tournament in him.
Silva, understandably, wants to spend more time with his boy. The rest and recuperation over this next 10 days or so will clearly work to City’s advantage.
It is hard to imagine but, after eight years establishing himself as one of the club’s all-time greats, Silva (with Guardiola, below) looks better than ever.
Playing for a team with this amount of swagger helps but it is Silva who makes it tick. The gulf in class between the Spaniard and any of those who represented United in midfield – Paul Pogba was out injured – symbolised the chasm separating these two teams.
Silva’s class reasons why Foden will have to be patient. Perhaps the 18-yearold has read Silva intends to leave when his contract expires at the end of next season.
In the meantime, Foden can watch and learn and be privileged to replace him occasionally, as he did here when the ovation followed Silva all the way to his seat.
For his career here, for this performance, no one deserved it more. is one of the P W D L F A Pts