Man City not Champions League favourites, insists Bernardo Silva

Manchester, September 20: Bernardo Silva has insisted Manchester City are not the favourites for the Champions League after they started their Group F campaign with a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Lyon.

City came unstuck at the Etihad Stadium

Silva pulled one back in the second half after Mikel Arteta – deputising for Pep Guardiola due to his touchline ban – introduced Leroy Sane, though it was not enough to inspire a comeback.

As a result, City are left with an uphill struggle from day one in a group they were expected to comfortably win, having been billed as potential winners of the competition.

Silva does not see it that way, however, and is adamant there are other teams who should be favoured ahead of City.

"We're not favourites," Silva told BT Sport. "I think we have a good team.

FULL-TIME | We take an opening #UCL Group Stage defeat but there's plenty of games to turn it around!

💙 1-2 🔴 #cityvol #mancity pic.twitter.com/hcDLT2IKFy

— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 19, 2018

"We will try to do better than last season, knowing that a club like Manchester City tries to win every competition, but we're not favourites, we're just going to do our best to win it."

Silva's City colleague John Stones felt the Premier League champions had only themselves to blame after errors from Fabian Delph and Fernandinho proved costly.

"To concede two goals like we did is very frustrating, especially in the first half," Stones added.

"We came in at half-time a bit deflated, I think. We picked ourselves up in the second half, came out fighting and played a better second half.

"We created a lot of chances, but it's just really frustrating how we've conceded the two goals and it's cost us in the end."