Club captain says the team were eager to continue playing in the Club World Cup amid concerns over fixture congestion and player welfare
Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva has said that the squad had “a lot of ambition” to win the Club World Cup and were gutted after their early knockout.
City lost 4-3 to Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in extra time on Tuesday, which sent them crashing out at the round-of-16 stage in Orlando. While the defeat grants Pep Guardiola’s side a helpful breather before the start of the new Premier League campaign on 16 August, Silva made it clear that no one in the squad was relieved to be leaving the US early.
“No one wanted to lose, no one wanted more vacations,” said Silva. “We are very used to not having holidays unfortunately because the schedule is crazy.
“But when we are in a competition we take it very seriously, and we had a lot of ambition for this Club World Cup. We wanted to win it.”
City travelled to the United States aiming to bounce back from a disappointing 2024-25 season that saw them finish without a trophy for the first time in seven years. After the last match of the season Guardiola said that finishing in the top four felt “like a title”.
This week the Spaniard said that City were “proud” to be at the Club World Cup and wanted to do “our best possible”.
Asked whether the feeling of losing in the round of 16 resembled a Champions League elimination, Silva said: “Yeah, a little bit, yeah.”
The loss comes after a gruelling year for the City captain, who only had a week off after playing in the Nations League final for Portugal before joining City’s pre-tournament preparations.
With their defeat, the City squad are expected to fly back to Manchester before going on another short holiday ahead of a return for preseason. Guardiola’s staff have yet to confirm how long the players will rest before resuming training. City play Wolves at the Molineaux on 16 August.
“We don’t know [the preseason schedule] yet,” said Silva. “We know when we start the Premier League, we will try to have as much rest as possible but also coming back to prepare for the season properly.
“That’s not my job. That’s the manager and his staff’s job to prepare the players, two or three weeks, whatever. But we are going to prepare for the season.”
