Guardiola underwent surgery and was not on the bench, City was not in its most effective days and had to suffer to win the visit to Sheffield United (1-2), rising to the isolated leadership of the Premier.
The possibility of Saudi Arabia was stronger than expected, Barcelona never ceased to be in the shadows and PSG is the eternal interested party: Bernardo Silva’s summer had several avenues open and still to be explored. In the end, the Portuguese international did not want to leave the street where he has been happy and renewed for Manchester City, remaining linked to the club until 2026.
“I have spent an incredible six years at Manchester City and I am delighted to extend my stay here. Winning the treble last season was special and it’s exciting to be part of a team where there is so much hunger and passion. Success makes you want even more and this club gives me that opportunity to keep winning. I love the coach, my teammates and the fans and I hope we can share even more good memories in the coming years,” Bernardo Silva told the club’s official bodies after the renewal was made official.
The return to Benfica may be 1,042 days away: Bernardo Silva renews until 2026 with Manchester City
Curiously, the Portuguese player was also chosen to represent the team for this Sunday’s trip to Sheffield United, where Manchester City could assume the isolated leadership of the Premier League and did not have the presence of Pep Guardiola, who underwent surgery urgency the column. “It has little impact. We know exactly what he wants from us and what the rest of the technical team wants from us. We will work in the same way to prepare for these games. The technical team will be communicating and we will do everything possible to play in the same way and win these games before our coach returns,” explained Bernardo.
Thus the City was trained by the assistant Juanma Lillo and performed with Jack Grealish, Julián Álvarez and Bernardo in support of Haaland, with Rúben Dias also starting in the center of defense and Phil Foden starting on the bench, where Jérémy Doku, fresh from Rennes, also joined. On the other side, Paul Heckingbottom had William Osula and Bénie Traoré up front.
He is here! ???? @JeremyDoku #City man pic.twitter.com/m0v4jTz1GQ
– Manchester City (@ManCity) August 27, 2023
City made the most dangerous first move so far in the first quarter of an hour, with Haaland heading into the hands of goalkeeper Foderingham (12′). The ball went into the net shortly after and Aké finished off after a free-kick. but the play was annulled due to Rodri’s offside and the game was tied (20′). At a time when Paul Heckingbottom had already been forced to make a substitution for an injured Ben Osborn, Foderingham once again kept the void with attentive defense after a deflection from Álvarez (27′).
About 10 minutes before the break, John Egan arm-wagged the ball inside the Sheffield United penalty area and the referee did not hesitate to award a penalty. However, in the conversion the least expected thing happened: Haaland hit the post and missed the penalty, leaving the game still tied at zero at the end of the first half.
It’s news: Haaland missed a penalty????
??????????????????????????????? @premierleague | @SheffieldUnited 0x0 @City Man #PremierELEVEN pic.twitter.com/RhfUHmqsvF
— ONCE Portugal (@ElevenSports_PT) August 27, 2023
Manchester City maintained absolute dominance in the second half, with Haaland (51′), Rodri (58′) and again Haaland (61′) accumulating wasted opportunities, but the Norwegian striker ended up managing to break the problem and open the way to the scoreboard . game time. Grealish lost his balance on the left and crossed to the far post, where Haaland appeared to head the back of the net (63 ′) — celebrating with curiosity, sighing practically without celebrating and clearly relieved to have scored after several missed chances.
The young striker scored again with about 20 minutes remaining, but the move was canceled for offside (71′) and Manchester City’s bad luck was going to get worse: without Juanma Lillo having made any change, Jayden Bogle beat Ederson with a cross to level the game (85′), prompting the assistant to swap Kovacic for Phil Foden almost immediately. Two minutes from the end, Rodri did what we are used to and appeared in the box shooting hard to take the three points (88′).
63987 shots later… Did Haaland manage to score against Sheffield????
??????????????????????????????? @premierleague | @SheffieldUnited 0x1 @City Man #PremierELEVEN pic.twitter.com/AlKxP7OShd
— ONCE Portugal (@ElevenSports_PT) August 27, 2023
Despite the difficulties, Manchester City beat Sheffield United and rose to the top of the Premier League putting themselves in a favorable position before hosting Marco Silva’s Fulham in the next round and on a weekend in which Arsenal drew and lost points.
Empathic Bogle ???? There are no easy games in the Premier????
??????????????????????????????? @premierleague | @SheffieldUnited 1×1 @City Man #PremierELEVEN pic.twitter.com/m6kQ4V1HP6
— ONCE Portugal (@ElevenSports_PT) August 27, 2023
Do you need to win the game? Who are you going to call? Rodri????
??????????????????????????????? @premierleague | @SheffieldUnited 1×2 @City Man #PremierELEVEN pic.twitter.com/aIKYKidB6e
— ONCE Portugal (@ElevenSports_PT) August 27, 2023
Source: Observadora
