Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva expects his club to make changes at the end of a “very frustrating” season.
City suffered their earliest Champions League elimination since the 2012-13 campaign on Wednesday when they fell 3-1 at Real Madrid following their 3-2 reverse in their opening playoff leg at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola’s side, meanwhile, are fourth in the Premier League standings, 17 points adrift of Sunday’s opponents and leaders Liverpool.
Silva told ESPN: “Of course, this season so far has been very frustrating. There are things that we can no longer recover: the Champions League, winning the Premier League. We’re out of the two most important competitions so we’re very, very sad.
“I’m sure that with some changes that the club will probably make at the end of the season because that’s how it is when you don’t win in football, we will try to bring this club back to the level it should be at.”
Silva, who has won 17 trophies — including six Premier League crowns and one Champions League — since joining City in 2017, admits this is his worst season at the Etihad.
“No doubt,” he said. “A very difficult season. The whole season, there have been many matches where we were nowhere near our best.
“Against Madrid, we played against a very strong team, very, very experienced and very successful in this competition. But we didn’t do nearly enough to try and win the game. Madrid were much better and well, we have to accept it and try to improve every day for next season.”
Injuries have plagued City this season. They lost Ballon d’Or award winner Rodri to a right ACL injury in September. But Silva, 30, says there are no excuses for his team’s poor performances.
“It [the slump] seems incomprehensible to me too,” the Portugal international said. “I don’t have the right answer. There is a mixture of many things that have happened in the club too. Of course, not just the injuries, that’s no excuse. The levels of calm and confidence are not the same this season. The way the team plays is not the same and we have to get it back as quickly as possible.”
Silva was disappointed with his team’s showing at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
“Once again, the number of easy balls that we conceded,” he said. “We gave them everything they always wanted, which is a game of many losses, many, many times, that they can catch us on. And well, when that’s the case, when you don’t do the basics right, you don’t deserve to win a game like this.”
Despite the team’s struggles, Silva has full confidence in Guardiola.
“Yes, of course I do,” he said. “That doesn’t change.
“There is also total confidence in the players that we have in the squad because they are the same. A little older, of course, but now with new energy.”
