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5 of Bernardo Silva's Best Moments of 2019 - Manchester City MAD

 

5 of Bernardo Silva's Best Moments of 2019

Bernardo Silva is ranked 7th in 90min's European Player of the Year series.


​He isn't the star name at Manchester City. And, obviously, the same is true for Portugal.

But Bernardo Silva has undoubtedly been one of the best players in Europe throughout the calendar year, no matter which way you judge a footballer's success.

The 25-year-old midfielder has picked up a host of trophies for club and country in 2019, while it's been his performances at crucial times which really have been the key to both Manchester City and Portugal's success over the last 12 months.


100th Appearance (24/4/2019)

Bernardo Silva

Manchester City have only ever had three Portuguese players represent them throughout their history, but no one from the Selecção das Quinas has ever made such an impact in the north-west quite like Bernardo Silva.


He became the 26th foreign player to ever reach 100 appearances for the club last season, celebrating his milestone game with a trip to rivals Manchester United in the latter stages of their incredible title defence.


Silva didn't just make his 100th appearance at Old Trafford, but the 25-year-old scored the opening goal in a 2-0 win against United which left City just three wins away from reclaiming the Premier League title.


FA Cup Final vs Watford (18/5/19)

Kevin De Bruyne,Gabriel Jesus,Bernardo Silva

Crowning off an incredible season where Silva had already lifted the Community Shield, Carabao Cup and Premier League trophy, City made it a clean sweep of domestic honours when the FA Cup final rolled around in May.

Silva couldn't add to his two-goal tally from earlier in the competition, but the Portugal international set up City's second goal of the afternoon to put Pep Guardiola's side into a two-goal lead at half-time.

Having been City's star player throughout a season where Kevin De Bruyne was missing through injury, Silva picked up his second assist of the match just ten minutes from time as the club completed their quadruple-winning season with a 6-0 win against Watford.


UEFA Nations League vs Holland (9/6/19)

Lieke Martens

Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Portugal's national team to finish as the top scorer at the UEFA Nations League, but it was actually Silva who was voted as the player of the tournament.

The City star set up two goals against Switzerland as a hat-trick from Ronaldo sent Portugal into the final of the inaugural competition, but it was Silva's stunning reverse pass which set up the winner against the Netherlands.

Silva was unmarked inside the penalty area and could have gone for goal himself, but the 25-year-old instead laid the ball off to an onrushing Gonçalo Guedes who fired in the only goal of the Nations League final at Porto's Estádio do Dragão.


First Career Hat-Trick (21/9/19)

Bernardo Silva

Silva isn't known for his goalscoring ability - he's only found the back of the net 61 times in his senior career - but the Portugal international was able to net his first ever hat-trick earlier this season.

During City's colossal 8-0 win over Watford, Silva got in on the act as Guardiola's side scored five goals in the opening 18 minutes of the match - scoring the fifth header of his career to put the reigning champions into a 4-0 lead.

His second of the afternoon was much more of a trademark goal from Silva, dancing through the Watford defence before, almost in slow motion, sending a shot beyond Ben Foster.

Silva's first career hat-trick was then in sight when De Bruyne fizzed the ball across the face of goal and into the Portugal international's path on the hour mark. 

Having never been in a position to score three in one match before, he actually fluffed his lines with his initial shot, but Silva unsurprisingly styled it out and pocked the ball into the back of the net for City's seventh goal of the game.


The Ballon d'Or Results (2/12/19)

Bernardo Silva

For all of Bernardo Silva's individual quality over the last 12 months, perhaps nothing summed up his 2019 quite like finishing inside the top 10 players in the final Ballon d'Or rankings.

Lionel Messi and Virgil van Dijk were assured to fight it out between them for the trophy itself, but Silva ultimately could have placed anywhere outside of the top two and there would have been very little room for disagreement.

In the end, Silva placed ninth in the Ballon d'Or's final rankings - a harsh position given his importance to City's historic title-winners and to Portugal, who won every single game that he either scored or assisted in throughout 2019.

He should have been higher. But as a player who doesn't grab the headlines for club or country every week, Silva's position inside the top 10 is a sign that the Ballon d'Or could soon be on its way to the first Portuguese player who isn't called Cristian Ronaldo since Luís Figo in 2000.


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Source : 90min