Bernardo Silva offers Man City a tantalising glimpse into the future

Five years ago, Pep Guardiola knew he would struggle to get a full team out at the start of the season given so many of his squad were at the World Cup, but made the decision to drastically cut short Bernardo Silva's holidays. Rather than being more torture for a player at the centre of pranks, it was a tactical gamble that Bernardo's energy could be enough to carry the team through the opening part of the campaign.

It worked a treat and City retained the league. Roll forward to 2023 and the Portugal international is looking ominously good again.

Having been substituted after just 30 minutes against Yokohama F Marinos because he had basically completed the game, he stayed on for more than double that against Bayern and was a nuisance for the German champions all evening from the right wing; even when Oscar Bobb came on in the second half, Bernardo still managed to cause trouble from that part of the pitch.

Also read: Man City proved Joshua Kimmich right in Bayern Munich win

With no sign of an exit as the transfer window moves towards its final month, City can begin to be more cautiously hopeful of keeping Bernardo for another season. If they are able to, they look to have one hell of a player raring to go.

Mateo Kovacic made his second successive start but was played in a more defensive role against Bayern Munich. With neither Rodri or Kalvin Phillips in the starting XI, the former Chelsea man was asked to sit in front of the defence with Rico Lewis and John Stones helping out when needed but usually playing further ahead of him.

Having shown glimpses of what he can offer from an attacking perspective, Kovacic looked comfortable quickly against Bayern as he regularly dropped deep to take the ball off Ederson and