Man City midfielder Bernardo Silva admitted that the club are “in a dark place” after suffering a shock 4-1 defeat to Ruben Amorim’s Sporting Club in Lisbon on Tuesday night.
Phil Foden gave the visitors an early lead, but that was cancelled out by man of the moment, Viktor Gyokeres, who equalised before halftime with a driven strike.
Max Araujo stunned the Premier League champions seconds after the break when he ran through on goal to put the hosts in front. Gyokeres extended that lead moments later from the spot, and converted another penalty in the 80th minute to complete a famous night for the Portuguese outfit.
Man City have now lost three games on the bounce in all competitions as their form has fallen off a cliff following Rodri’s season-ending ACL injury.
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“It’s disappointing because we’re a bit in a dark place right now. Everything looks to be going in the wrong way,” Silva told TNT Sports.
“Even when we are playing well we don’t score our chances and we concede too easily. We definitely need to look inside and check what we’re not doing well. And we need to get better very quickly otherwise it will be very difficult to come back from these losses.”
Despite the recent results, Man City boss Pep Guardiola says he is up for the challenge of turning their fortunes around in the coming weeks and months.
“Now is the difficult moment in terms of results but I want to be here. I want to fight and not give up, I like this challenge as a manager I have ahead of me. Who wants to follow us will be there.
“It is football. Maybe what we lived in the past is the exception. Sometimes you can lose. We were in the position where they punished us for the few they do and we struggled for the chances we had.
“The first half was almost enough to finish the game and then we were losing 3-1.”
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The result, which sees Sporting move up to second in the Champions League table, will ingratiate Ruben Amorim to Manchester United fans ahead of his official unveiling next week.
The Portuguese tactician was lifted aloft by his players following his final home game in charge of the Lions before he takes up his role as Red Devils manager on 11 November.
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