I will be a Cityzen until I die and my family will be too!
DAVID Silva has picked out two games that changed the course of City’s history as he reflected on his 10 years at the club.
Joining shortly after winning the 2010 World Cup with Spain, the Spaniard admitted he needed a couple of months to adapt to the new league, but within two years the Blues had won their first major trophies in 35 years by lifting the FA Cup and Premier League.
And it was the 2011 FA Cup triumph Silva says set City on course to the levels they are now at, where they have won every domestic trophy on offer more than once and are regular challengers in Europe.
He told City TV: “I think after that trophy [the FA Cup] we started changing the path of the club and the following year we won the Premier League.”
Between winning the cup and the league a year later, City also shifted the balance in Manchester with the now-famous 6-1 win at Old Trafford - a game Silva said was another of their most important triumphs.
“I think one of our best games was against United when we won 6-1,” he said.
“Winning a game like that against your main rival, it was a way to say that things were about to change. Maybe it’s one of the best [assists, for Edin Dzeko], I’ve been lucky to make many assists.
“In this case I have to thank Edin because he scored the goal, if he hadn’t scored nobody would remember that pass.
“Edin is a great player and I really enjoyed playing with him. As I said, this game changed everything for the club. You beat your main rival 1-6 at their ground and then you win the league from them at the last minute, this was really good.”
Silva will have a statue erected outside the Etihad in honour of his achievements in the last 10 years, but he admitted he was not expecting to stay in Manchester so long.
He explained: “It felt like home from the very beginning. Everyone treated me and my family so well. I will be forever grateful.
“I am going to be a Cityzen until I die, and my family as well.
“Nowadays it is so difficult to play 10 consecutive years for the same team. But I have to admit I felt very comfortable here from the beginning, I always said this to everyone.
“The truth is I was surprised at how friendly it was.
“When we were training at Carrington everything was smaller and we were like a small family and I liked that a lot.
“Now everything has changed because the club has changed a lot.
“The facilities where we train now are massive and the club has more staff but this is all normal because the club has reached another level.”