Former Manchester City skipper Andy Morrison believes Pep Guardiola has one player who just completely epitomises what this whole team is about with his personality.
Manchester City triumphed in the Community Shield on Saturday, beating rivals Manchester United on penalties.
The game finished 1-1, with City showing good character to come from behind after a goal from Alejandro Garnacho.
Oscar Bobb stood out once again for City, having shone in pre-season. The Norwegian supplied a brilliant cross for Bernardo Silva to score after brilliantly creating a yard of space.
City then won on penalties, with Manuel Akanji scoring the winning kick in what was a lovely moment for the Swiss defender, after his miss at Euro 2024 against England.
Arguably, the game was changed for City following the introduction of Bernardo in the second half, and he came in for high praise from Morrison afterwards.
Andy Morrison claims Bernardo Silva completely sums up Manchester City
Pep Guardiola turned to Bernardo at around the 80-minute mark to try and get his side back into the contest.
And that would prove to be a smart move from the manager.
Just moments after his introduction, the intensity was raised for City. He clattered into Garnacho and rightly earned himself a yellow card.
But Bernardo was not here to play.
He wanted to get his side back into the game, and he came up with the goods and scored a brilliant header.
He went on to miss his penalty in the shootout. Spot-kicks have proven not to be his forte, but Bernardo’s impact was significant, and Morrison had high praise for the star after the game over on Man City’s official YouTube channel.
For him, Bernardo just sums up the mentality of City.
He said (mancity.com): “He may be only 5ft 6in tall, but I love every inch of him. It’s not just the football, it’s the personality of the players that creates champions and we have them throughout our team and Bernardo sums that up.
“He’s come onto the pitch and the first thing he does is rile up the players as he is shouting and screaming at them.
“Bernardo then goes and rattles Garnacho as if to say: ‘I’m not here for your show. I’m here to win.’
“Of course, he then goes and scores the late equaliser.
“The personality is what produces champions… not just the football.
“We are very fortunate in that we could name player after player who have that quality but he really sums it up.
“On the pitch, he livened things up straight away.
“You need someone to start the fire and he did it as soon as Bernardo came onto the pitch.”
Man City are so lucky to have Bernardo
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City are incredibly lucky to have a player like Bernardo.
He is someone that any club in the world needs. The £43 million star is a workhorse, technically brilliant and someone who is highly intelligent, allowing him to carry out any tactical instructions with ease.
He is a manager’s dream, and it looks like he will be staying for another season which is a huge boost for Pep.
The Community Shield is often seen as a glorified friendly. But the City players did not treat it as such on Saturday, and Bernardo was clearly massively determined to win and Morrison is right – he often does sum up the whole team with his attitude and mentality.
