Guardiola: Silva’s work at City is not yet finished
PEP Guardiola hinted that David Silva might still have one last major role to play for City.
But the Blues boss ruled out trying to persuade the 34-year-old to re-think his decision to leave at the end of this season.
Silva only played the final 10 minutes of the last-16 win over Real Madrid last Friday.
City face Lyon tonight, and the Blues legend has a good chance of replacing Ilkay Gundogan in the team, with Guardiola intent on being on the front foot.
Silva announced last summer this would be his final campaign, although he extended his contract to allow him to take part in the delayed Champions League finale.
He was in fine form towards the end of the Premier League season, leading to speculation City might try to persuade him to give it one more year.
They won’t do that, but the Blues boss has been hugely impressed with the way the midfield star has attacked training in Lisbon this week.
“Absolutely he is ready,” said Guardiola when asked about Silva, seen by many to be the club’s greatest player.
“The way he has trained and the mentality in his training, I am really impressed about his personality.
“All of us know it was a pity that his last games in the Etihad were without people, but he’ll be back.
“We have said it many times, he will be back – when the crowd and the people are back in the stadium – and he will get what he deserves.”
Lazio have headed up the list of clubs chasing Silva’s services, but City have not attempted to change his mind.
Said Guardiola: “He decided from the beginning of the season to move on. He has stayed one decade here and now it is time for a new experience.”
David Silva could still have a big role to play over the next week
SERGIO Aguero is running out of time to play any part in City’s Champions League challenge. The Blues are preparing to face Lyon in the quarter-final of the competition at the Jose Alvalade Stadium tonight, and if they win they will be in the semi-final on Wednesday.
But manager Pep Guardiola revealed the club’s all-time leading goalscorer is still in Barcelona. The striker went to the Catalan capital for surgery on the knee
PEP Guardiola denied that a new order is about to take control of European football.
But he expressed the view that the rise of new clubs to threaten the stranglehold of the usual old names is a good thing for the Champions League.
The first semi-final of the competition will be between two meniscus problem he suffered in June, but he is still in the recuperation phase.
City included him in their squad for the finals tournament hoping that he might recover in time to join them. But even if they make the final, a week tomorrow, Aguero is struggling to play a part. Said the Blues boss: “He’s still in Barcelona. He should come here, do a test.
“He’s still in Barcelona making a full recovery.” clubs who were both formed within the last 50 years and which have one semi-final appearance between them - PSG reached the same stage in 1995, while RB Leipzig’s only previous appearance saw them eliminated at the group stage.
If City can beat Lyon tonight, and then see off Bayern Munich in Wednesday’s semi-final, there will be two first-time finalists meeting at the Stadium of Light a week tomorrow. PSG were formed in 1970, while their opponents have had a spectacular rise to prominence fuelled by the Red Bull drinks company since they were founded in 2009.
City are actually the oldest club left in the competition, having been founded in 1894.
They have been reinvigorated by Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008 and since qualifying for the
Champions League for the first time three years later, they have been involved every year since.
But their best showing was under Manuel Pellegrini in 2016 when they lost 1-0 on aggregate to Real Madrid in the semi-final.
But with at least one new club sure to be in the final Guardiola was asked whether this season represents a sea-change in European football.