Football's first socially distant guard of honour took place last night at the Etihad, but it's become obvious Bernardo Silva did not enjoy being part of it.
A fifteen second clip of Bernardo Silva looking pissed off as Liverpool arrive on the pitch has gone viral this morning. In the clip, Silva stands still without clapping as his teammates offer the 2019-20 League champions polite applause upon arriving on the pitch last night. He sips from his water bottle and breaks early from his flank.
Credit where it’s due, this is outstanding from Bernardo Silva pic.twitter.com/Gn4kcwjHGe
— Gaz (@CantonaManc) July 3, 2020
It's a respectful bit of disrespect that you don't see from enough contemporary footballers. Bernardo Silva clearly did not enjoy the spectacle he was asked to be a part of. He kept his arms at his sides. That sort of edge was evident in City's 4-0 win last night. After the match, Pep Guardiola said he was 'delighted' with the performance.
I'm delighted. Congratulations to the team, we beat the champions with the quality they have.
"I saw in the guard of honour how incredibly focused they were, how they shouted. I saw their faces, that's why they're champions.
"They didn't come here to celebrate. They'd drunk enough beers and they came here to compete.
"So the chances we created, to beat them 4-0, it was so important for preparing against Arsenal and Real Madrid."
Jurgen Klopp was spiky in defeat. He told Sky Sports:
"If you want to lead the story in the direction that we were not focused on that game, then do it."
"I saw a brilliant attitude. I saw fight. We didn't behave like somebody who became champions a week ago."
"If there is a team in the world that can smash us like this, it is probably City - but we will come again."
"We lacked fluidity, that's for sure. And in some 50-50 situations they were quicker than us in mind.
"They used their chances and we didn't.
"City are incredible. I've seen their games - they haven't played a bad game all season. Even when they lost they still played really good football."
