In the Zone: Man City's Silva service
Thursday, May 18, 2023
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Manchester City's Bernardo Silva is the focus of our latest look at players' displays in the FedEx Performance Zone.
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One of the marks of a great side is the ability of their most talented players to take control of the biggest games and ultimately make the difference. Manchester City, it is fair to say, have more than their share of game-changers who step up at key moments – see Erling Haaland against Leipzig and Kevin De Bruyne in the semi-final first leg against Real Madrid.
In our latest FedEx Performance Zone stats dive, we take a look at how Bernardo Silva became the latest City player to stamp his authority on this season's UEFA Champions League as Pep Guardiola's side beat Madrid 4-0 to reach the final.
Bernardo Silva had taken a back seat when compared to some of his team-mates in the competition this season before Wednesday's last-four decider, chipping in with just the one goal and an assist. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man and the Portuguese midfielder's two goals (75 points) helped him rise from 30th place in the rankings this time last week to seventh spot now.
The rest of his massive 137.5-point haul – the second-highest match total this term behind Haaland's 175.5 against Leipzig – came via 60+ minutes on the pitch (12.5 points), three shots on target (15 points), five recovered balls (12.5 points) and a passing accuracy above 90% (22.5 points). A reminder that points are multiplied by 2.5 at the semi-final stage.
To put that tally into context, the next highest scorer among both semi-final deciders was his City team-mate Manuel Akanji, who scooped 87.5 points after a goal (37.5 points) and clean sheet (22.5 points), while De Bruyne was third in that game with 70 points – close to half of Bernardo Silva's total.
Tuesday's top scorers were all trailing in the wake of the Portuguese too, Lautaro Martínez (77.5 points) and Francesco Acerbi (72.5 points) the most notable scorers from that game. Can that Inter pair and their colleagues do anything to stop Bernardo Silva and the Manchester City juggernaut from finally realising their ambition to win European club football's biggest prize in Istanbul on 10 June?