Silva in FA fire over Mendy tweet

‘IN-JOKE’ WITH CITY PAL COULD BE INVESTIGATED AFTER BACKLASH ON SOCIAL MEDIA

A TWEET from Manchester City star Bernardo Silva to one of his teammates could be investigated.

The Football Association (FA) are to look into a post sent from Portuguese midfielder’s Silva’s account yesterday.

The tweet featured a childhood picture of his Blues’ teammate, the Frenchman Benjamin Mendy, next to a character who is the brand logo of Spanish chocolate company, Conguitos.

The logo has previously drawn criticism in other countries for being racially insensitive.

The post above the images on Silva’s tweet said “Guess who?” in what it is believed was intended as a joke between the two friends.

Mendy himself didn’t seem to take offence, replying to it with a number of laughing and clapping emojis and the message “1-0. For you will see.”

However, after a backlash on the social media site the tweet was deleted from fan favourite Silva’s account.

Silva, who bagged a hat-trick in Saturday’s 8-0 thumping of Watford, then said in another post: “Can’t even joke with a friend these days... You guys...”

However the FA confirmed yesterday afternoon they were aware of the tweet and are now looking at it to decide whether to investigate.

Mendy, who also featured in Saturday’s win over Watford, later posted a picture of him and Silva together on his Instagram page with a blue love heart.

A City source said the pair were best mates, a friendship which spans back to before their time at the club, and the tweet was clearly an in-joke with absolutely no offence intended.

Bernardo Silva dedicated City’s stunning win at the Etihad on Saturday to the club’s fans after their reverse at Norwich a week earlier.

“We wanted to give our fans that after the defeat at Norwich - it was amazing the way they supported us after that defeat,” he said.

“When you lose you always want a good response, especially for the fans who didn’t deserve that defeat.

“We have won 8-0 but other days I have lost 4-0 and 5-0 and I know how it is.

“It’s football - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you get big defeats. You keep going.”