Bernardo Silva has issued a serious warning to his Manchester City teammates to ignore their status as favourites for the Champions League, citing the example of how Juventus were knocked out by Lyon, City\u2019s quarter-final opponents on Saturday, in the previous round.<\/p>\n
Pep Guardiola\u2019s side took out Real Madrid, the record 13-time winners, from the last 16 last Friday, while on the same evening the challenge of twice-holders Juventus was terminated by the French Ligue 1 team.<\/p>\n
Like City, Ligue 1 team Lyon have never been European champions. And despite title holders, Liverpool, having been taken out of the equation, Silva is prudently cautious of his team being overconfident when they meet in Lisbon for a revised format, straight knockout tie.<\/p>\n
Regarding City\u2019s tag of being the favourites, the Portuguese said:<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything can happen \u2013 Juventus were knocked out by Lyon. We have seen lots of surprises in the competition over the last years. We lost against Tottenham last year in the quarter finals. It\u2019s very difficult to predict the games and the results in this competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that Liverpool are out, Real Madrid are out: it\u2019s not going to make our path easier. That would be a wrong thought. We need to go game by game, be very focused, knowing that every game is going to be tough. All the teams in Lisbon are here because they deserve it. We need to be at our best level to win the games and try to reach the final.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silva for one has insider knowledge of Lyon, having been at Monaco for three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played many times against them,\u201d the 26-year-old said. \u201cAlso here at Manchester City\u00a0we faced them last season and it wasn\u2019t easy. We didn\u2019t manage to beat them in either of the two [group] games. That shows how difficult a team they are. Not only Lyon, but all the French teams are very physical, very strong and in just one game it\u2019s unpredictable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be very difficult. We are going to try to prepare ourselves the best way we can, but we know it\u2019s not going to be easy. They knocked Juventus out of the competition and it\u2019s not going to be an easy task for us. It\u2019s going to be a completely different game than Real Madrid, because they both play different ways and with a different style of players.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cManchester City has never won this competition [and] most of our players haven\u2019t won it yet, including me,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, winning this competition has always been a target for the players and club. It will be very special to win it. For me, even more so because it\u2019s my city and it\u2019s an extra motivation to fight for the trophy here,\u201d the Lisbon-born midfielder said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would definitely be special to win the Champions League in Lisbon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe play every competition to win, we try to give our best in every competition. This one is the only one we haven\u2019t won at City, so there is extra motivation to give our best and try to go as far as possible. It\u2019s a goal for the club, the fans, the staff, everyone. If we could do it this year, it would be a proud moment and we would include our names in the history of the club.\u201d<\/p>\n
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