Bernardo Silva has explained how Manchester City’s past mistakes have helped them in the Champions League this season.
City drew 1-1 with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday to secure a place in the Champions League semi-finals, having beaten the Bundesliga giants 3-0 in the first leg of their quarterfinal tie last week.
Erling Haaland dusted himself down after missing a first-half penalty and put City ahead shortly after half-time, finishing off a counter-attack that started with John Stones inside his own penalty area.
Joshua Kimmich scored a late consolation from the penalty spot after Manuel Akanji was penalised for a handball, but City saw out the draw after withstanding large spells of Bayern pressure.
City have become only the third English team to reach the semi-finals in three successive seasons, and like last year they will face Real Madrid in the final four.
City lost 6-5 on aggregate at the same stage last season in a shootout of a tie, which ended with Madrid scoring two late goals to break City hearts.
It was City’s inability to cope with periods of pressure and chaos that was their undoing last season, something they seem better at handling this time around.
Speaking to BT Sport after Wednesday’s draw, Bernardo Silva explained that past experiences have taught City the importance of being solid in defence rather than just trying to control games.
“In the Champions League we [have] learned from our mistakes of the past,” he said.
“What we understand now is that, before, we used to think ‘oh no, we need to be dominating the game for 90 minutes, controlling on their final third’.
“This competition when you play against Bayern Munich, PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, wherever, you need to accept that sometimes you have to defend, you have to be consistent.
“You have work hard not to give them easy chances, and that’s what we’ve been trying to work on in the present because in the past we’ve had a lot of frustrating nights because of that.”
