Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva claims that his side will not take the last-16 game of the second-length Champions League against Real Madrid lightly.
“You never know. It’s a good result and we’re in a great position to go through to the quarter-finals. It’s a tough match and we’ll need to play well and maintain our concentration,” Silva said in a Q&A with AS. “It’s all very open. When you play a side like Madrid nothing is ever certain. We’ve seen a lot of ties in the last few years get turned around.”
The citizens have an aggregate lead of 2-1 over Zinedine Zidane’s side after a dramatic victory at Bernabeu, but the coronavirus pandemic has left the remainder of the tournament shrouded in doubt.
Silva, who played 73 minutes of City victory in Madrid, scored seven goals and eight assists in 39 games this season.
However, Silva is optimistic of the City’s aspirations for the glory of the Champions League but maintains that the Premier League winners should not be complacent about the Etihad:
“In the last three years, we’ve won everything in England. Last season we won all four English titles, this year we’ve won the Super Cup and the League Cup, we’re still in the FA Cup and we want to win that.
“But the Champions League is the title the club, the players and Pep Guardiola in England want to win. We know it’s a tough tournament, but we’ll fight for it.
“You can’t write any team off, far less Madrid who have won 13 European Cups. No one else has the experience Madrid’s players have in this competition, so we can’t think we’ve already beaten them.”
