Pep Guardiola has stressed the importance of Bernardo Silva, labelling him a ‘unique’ player in the City squad.

Bernardo was a second half substitute on Saturday, coming on in the 65th minute for Kevin De Bruyne, before firing home our decisive second in the 2-0 win over Newcastle United just two minutes later.

Guardiola was full of praise for the Portuguese playmaker as he spoke to the media after the game in his post-match press conference.

He insisted that Bernardo is a master of controlling the rhythm of the team when he’s on the pitch, a factor that can’t always be captured when analysing the statistics week after week.

He said: “Bernardo has never been a top, top scorer or top assists but he helps us to play better.

“You want statistics? Ok, go to the big datas and congratulations, you can write a big article about that. But there are things that people don’t come in the datas, and it’s something that is unique. And Bernardo is unique, to make us – all of us – play better; be aggressive, and play our rhythm that we need to play, was better.

Pep Guardiola continued, “The game in some moments is so quick, so quick, so quick, and sometimes it’s necessary, but sometimes not. Bernardo helps us to play in a different ‘pausa’, to after make the explosion. It’s unique. Bernardo is unique in the world doing this.”

Some fans were critical of Kevin De Bruyne on Saturday afternoon too, with his standards in recent matches having seemingly dropped below par when compared to his usually exceptional standards.

On this very subject, Pep Guardiola explained, “Always these are the standards of Kevin, in the sky. Everyone knows this is his level. Kevin has, in one week, another opportunity to show his quality.

“He was delighted for the victory we had (against Newcastle), and this is what they have to do. Come back to the principles, work hard, and everything is going to come back without any effort. Just do your usual quality, your best, and that’s all.”

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