Silva: Club World Cup elimination, “Nobody wanted a vacation”

ORLANDO, Florida – Bernardo Silva dismissed the idea that Manchester City’s early elimination from the FIFA Club World Cup is a positive thing, stating that “nobody wanted more vacation”. The City was defeated in the round of 16 by Al Hilal, after an exciting match in Orlando. This means that Pep Guardiola and his team return home two weeks before the July 13 final in New York. Had they advanced to the end of the tournament, City would have only had four weeks to rest and prepare for the start of the Premier League on August 16. Now, City will have a longer break, but Silva, who only had five days of rest between the end of last season and the Club World Cup after playing with Portugal in the Nations League, insists that the players do not want that extra free time.

“Nobody wanted to lose, nobody wanted more vacation,” said Silva.

Bernardo Silva

“We are very used to not having vacations, unfortunately, because the schedule is crazy.” But when we are in a competition, we take it very seriously and we had a lot of ambition in this Club World Cup and we wanted to win it.”

When asked if the feeling of being eliminated was similar to leaving the Champions League, the 30-year-old player replied: “Yes, a little, yes.” City is scheduled to return to Manchester from its training base in Boca Raton, Florida, this Tuesday. Silva said the players still don’t know how much time off they will have, but promised the team will be ready to start their Premier League campaign when they face Wolves at Molineux on August 16. “We still don’t know [the schedule]”, he said. “We know when the Premier League starts, we will try to rest as much as possible, but also return to prepare well for the season. That’s not my job, it’s the coach’s and his team’s job to prepare the players, two or three weeks, whatever. But we are going to prepare the season.”