Bernardo Silva Sees Bond With Manchester City Fans As His Proudest Accomplishment Ahead Of Etihad Farewell

Bernardo Silva heads into Sunday’s clash with Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium knowing it will be the final Manchester City appearance, with the midfielder set to leave as a free agent after nine years and 303 Premier League games that helped define an era for the club.

Silva said the greatest achievement during the Manchester City spell is not any of the trophies, but the connection with supporters and the sense of enjoyment provided on the pitch, describing the relationship with fans as the element that gives the career its deepest meaning.

Asked about the status as a fans’ favourite, Silva told the club’s in-house media that emotional ties matter most, stressing how supporters must see themselves in the team: "I think that's the most important thing in football. In the end, this is about entertainment and the main thing that football players should do is make the fans, the people that go to the stadium, feel well represented, feel that a part of them is inside the pitch. And when you have that connection, when you feel it, when the fans feel that winning or losing, the players left it all on the pitch... When you create that bond between players and fans, you're a step closer to winning."

That theme ran through Silva’s reflection on Manchester City’s style under Pep Guardiola. Silva said the players attack with freedom, play with emotion and always exhaust themselves for the shirt, arguing this attitude preserved unity with the crowd even during last season’s difficult spell when results briefly dipped but backing from the stands never faded.

Since joining from Monaco in 2017, Bernardo Silva collected 19 trophies with Manchester City, including six Premier League titles. The midfielder also helped secure the club’s first Champions League crown in 2023, missing only one of the 20 trophies lifted under Guardiola, the 2023 UEFA Super Cup, due to injury at that time.

Silva’s consistency is underlined by the appearance figures. By the time the Aston Villa match finishes, Silva will have the second-highest Premier League appearance total for Manchester City, currently on 303 games, six short of David Silva’s record and 18 ahead of team-mate Kevin De Bruyne’s tally in third place.

{TABLE_1}

Across those league matches, Silva has scored 45 goals and supplied 50 assists. No Portuguese footballer has played more games in the Premier League, which places the Manchester City spell among the most influential careers by any player from Portugal in the competition’s history.

As Bernardo Silva prepares for the Manchester City farewell against Aston Villa, the statistics, honours and records highlight an elite career, yet Silva keeps returning to the shared journey with supporters, describing that enduring bond as the key reason the nine-year spell will remain so special.