‘Hypocrisy’—Bernardo Silva Doubles Down on Liverpool Snub

The Portugal international is betting on employers Man City to bounce back in 2025–26.

Bernardo Silva has a backstory with Liverpool. / IMAGO/Sportsphoto

Bernardo Silva was defiantly unapologetic for refusing to give Liverpool a guard of honour after they were crowned Premier League champions in 2020.

As is tradition in English football, Manchester City’s players were expected to line up and applaud the Reds onto the pitch when they arrived at the Etihad Stadium as freshly crowned title winners. The proud Portuguese midfielder notably refused to clap, standing in his warm-up gear holding his shin pads and a cup of coffee.

The passage of time has not softened Bernardo’s stance. “I’m a bad loser, yeah,” he shrugged while in discussion with The Times. “I hate losing. I played 12 years at Benfica and they taught us not to be happy if you lose.”

Silva went on to question the entire concept of the guard of honour. “In my opinion, it’s kind of a hypocrisy,” he huffed. “It’s not a tradition we have in Portugal. If they want to do it, they can do it, but I wasn’t going to clap Liverpool because that’s not how I celebrate defeat. When I win a title, I don’t need anyone else to clap for me.”

Only one member of Man City’s squad played more minutes across all competitions last season than Bernardo Silva. / IMAGO/Visionhaus

For the first time during Silva’s eight-year stay in east Manchester, City didn’t win a single trophy throughout the 2024–25 campaign. The 31-year-old failed to help the dethroned Premier League champions climb higher than third, saw them lose 6–3 on aggregate to Real Madrid in the Champions League and crash out of the Carabao Cup fourth round. City ended a dire campaign with defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final.

“There’s a lot of guilt among the players, in the manager, in everyone for not doing better last season,” he sighed. “A team with our experience, with our quality, even with [the injuries we had], we cannot go down as easily as we did. We should have done better to overcome this situation. About competing for the title, we didn’t even give it a try.”

“I think emotional-wise we’re definitely back,” Silva added. “In terms of being hungry again, we’re back.”

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