BERNARDO: We can be the quadfathers!
BERNARDO SAYS BLUES CAN CLAIM HISTORIC QUAD
BERNARDO Silva believes City have a realistic chance of winning an unprecedented Quad this season.
The Blues secured an FA Cup semifinal clash with Brighton thanks to a stunning 3-2 comeback victory against Swansea on Saturday – and were drawn against Tottenham in the quarter-finals of the Champions League last week.
Pep Guardiola’s side are second in Premier League table – two points behind Liverpool with a game in hand – with the Carabao Cup already in their possession, and Bernardo says City will target success in all competitions as they aim to beat United’s 1999 Treble after the international break.
“Now it’s the international break and we’ll try to come back fit to try and go for the other three competitions,” Bernardo said, after scoring and then setting up Sergio Aguero’s 88th-minute winner against Swansea.
“We know it [the Quadruple] is difficult because our opponents are strong. Playing in the Champions League, which is probably the most difficult competition in Europe, and the Premier League is very tight with Liverpool.
“The FA Cup, everything can happen. We will try to go 100 per cent to the three of them knowing that we can win the three, we can lose the three.
“Everything will happen within a month and a half. We’ll try to be at our best.”
Bernardo also praised Sergio Aguero after the striker helped City comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Swansea with a fantastic supersub appearance.
“I think everyone knows how good he [Aguero] is,” Bernardo said.
“Once again he came in and made a huge difference for us. We’re very pleased to have him with us and always to have him score important goals to win us games.”
CITY definitely would have lost this game in Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge, probably would have done last year and quite possibly could have done on Saturday.
At 2-0 down, thoughts of squad depth, individual errors and at least three Premier League defeats must have been flooding through the manager’s mind at a pace to rival Swansea’s Daniel James.
After getting into such a phenomenal rhythm, this was another collective failure to play as Fabian Delph messed up for the first and then Nicolas Otamendi was caught in no-man’s land just nine minutes later. For Guardiola, who has spent the last week warning only one thing needs to go wrong in a knockout tie to knock you out, a horrible sense of deja vu accompanied him into the dressing room for half-time.
But something has changed in City this year.
Since that limp defeat at Leicester on Boxing Day, where Fabian Delph’s follow through on Ricardo Pereira was the most aggression shown by the team all day, the Blues have won 19 of 20 games in all competitions.
The electric win over Liverpool at the beginning of this year sparked something special and spectacular results have followed. If the Newcastle performance may have brought up the same worrying trend as Leicester and Crystal Palace, it is very much the exception in the calendar year.
Guardiola will still have concerns over the way his team collapsed in familiar fashion at Swansea, and tougher teams may have more about them to quell a comeback – City are also unlikely to benefit from such poor officiating and good luck again before the end of the season.
Yet the manager will be thrilled to see his side come back fighting for the second time in a month.
All seemed lost against Schalke before moments of quality from Leroy Sane and Ederson completed an unlikely turnaround. At the Liberty Stadium, Bernardo Silva’s brilliance – coupled with the three substitutes – inspired another big win. It’s hard to think of too many standout team performances since the demolition of Chelsea back on February 10 but it’s hard to quibble with the eight straight victories that have followed. When the City boss looks for improvement from his players, there is now well more than one example of them showing the kind of fighting character that can be the difference between winning titles and coming up short. Even if they don’t, it is enough to Guardiola that they are battled back more than once from perilous positions to remain in contention for an unbelievable four trophies with a maximum of 15 games to go. “I know for the people maybe we are not good enough if we don’t win three of four titles – I’m sorry – but being there is a huge success for the club.”
The electric win over Liverpool sparked something special Simon Bajkowski