Angry City stars demand protection
BERNARDO SAYS RIVAL PLAYERS ARE TARGETING HIS CITY TEAM-MATES
BERNARDO Silva says City players are being targeted by opponents – and has called for referees to find their red cards.
Kevin de Bruyne and Brahim Diaz were both subjected to brutal challenges in the 3-0 win over West Brom on Wednesday, just days after Leroy Sane suffered ankle ligament damage after a dreadful foul by Cardiff’s Joe Bennett.
And Bernardo believes it is clearly a tactic adopted by opponents finding it tough to cope with City’s football superiority. “The coach and everyone already spoke about that,” said the Portugal international.
“It’s clear that over the last few months. We’ve seen with Leroy it was a terrible accident and now he’s injured for two months – a very important player.
“Against West Brom it could have been Brahim, and it could have been Kevin on the second goal.
“The referees have to do their job and if it’s a red card, they have to give the red card. They are not doing that over the last few months. We hope that soon they start protecting our players because the way other teams are tackling our players it’s not part of the game, it’s not fair play and they have to try to punish the players that play this way.”
Bernardo, who starred for Monaco last season, added that it is referee leniency that marks out the English game.
He said: “France is really physical – I think maybe even a little bit more than here. What you have here is obviously the referees let you play a little bit more so the game is more intense.”