Bernardo Silva
Bernardo Mota Veiga de Carvalho e Silva, known as Bernardo Silva or simply Bernardo, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder, forward or a winger for Premier League club Manchester City and the Portugal national team. Considered one of the best midfielders in the world and amongst the best Portuguese players, Silva is known for his stamina, agility and work-rate. Born in Lisbon, Silva came through Benfica’s youth academy. He began playing for Benfica B in 2013 and was promoted to the first-team in 2014, playing a few minutes with the latter. He was on loan at the Ligue 1 side Monaco during the 2014–15 season, with Les Monégasques making the move permanent in winter 2015. After winning the league title with them in 2017, he was signed by English club Manchester City for a reported fee of £43.5 million. He subsequently won the Premier League and EFL Cup in his first season in England, following this up with a domestic treble the following season. He had a significant role in City becoming the first men’s team in England to win a domestic treble, being named Manchester City’s Player of the Year in 2019 and being part of the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. Afterwards, Silva was listed among the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or. In 2020–21, he had a significant role on Manchester City reaching their first UEFA Champions League final. Silva made his senior debut for Portugal in 2015 after previously being capped by the nations’s youth teams at under-19 and under-21 levels. He was chosen in Portugal’s squads for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2018 FIFA World Cup, 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals, UEFA Euro 2020 and 2022 FIFA World Cup, winning the 2019 tournament on home soil while also being named as the Player of the Tournament.
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In 2013, Silva represented Portugal at the 2013 European Under-19 Championship, reaching the semi-finals. For his performances, Silva was named among the top 10 talents under the age of 19 in Europe by a selection of UEFA reporters. On 31 March 2015, he made his senior debut for Portugal, starting in a 0–2 friendly defeat to Cape Verde in Estoril. On 27 June 2015, he scored Portugal U21s’ first goal in a 5–0 win against Germany U21 in the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championship in Czech Republic.[35] He was left out of the Portugal squad for the finals of Euro 2016 due to injury. Silva was selected for the Portugal squad for the 2017 Confederations Cup which was hosted in Russia. He scored the second goal of the match in the group stage of the tournament, a 4-0 win over New Zealand. The national team reached the semi-finals before losing out to Chile in a penalty shootout after a 0–0 draw at the end of regulation time. Silva missed the third place play-off in which Portugal defeated Mexico 2–1 after extra time. Silva was named in Portugal’s 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He featured in all 4 matches with Portugal, but was knocked out of the tournament after a 1-2 loss to Uruguay. Silva was selected for three matches in the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League group stage, scoring a goal in a 3-2 victory against Poland.
