Bernardo Silva says City 'in dark place' after Lisbon thrashing

Bernardo Silva felt Manchester City had fallen into a "dark place" after being thrashed 4-1 by Sporting Lisbon.

City were stunned by incoming Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim's side at the Jose Alvalade Stadium on Tuesday, slumping to a third successive defeat after a hat-trick by former Coventry striker Viktor Gyokeres.

It was also City’s first reverse in the Champions League – excluding a penalty shoot-out – since 2022 and, coming after losses to Tottenham and Bournemouth in the past week, Silva feels the team must do some soul-searching.

"It’s disappointing because we’re a bit in a dark place right now," the Portugal international told TNT Sports. "Everything looks to be going in the wrong way.

"Even when we are playing well we don’t score our chances and we concede too easily.

"We definitely need to look inside and check what we’re not doing well, and we need to get better very quickly otherwise it will be very difficult to come back from these losses."

Manager Pep Guardiola had a more optimistic outlook and insisted he was relishing the challenge of bouncing back.

The City boss, who takes his side to Brighton on Saturday, said: "I don’t agree with him. We are not in the dark side.

"We played really bad against Bournemouth but really good here. The only regret is conceding the third and fourth – the penalties were not necessary.

"We knew it would be a tough season at the start and this is what it is. I like it, I love it, I want to face it and lift my players. Life is like this. We continue.

"What should we do? We go back to Manchester and prepare for the game at Brighton. I won’t give up, that’s for sure."

City had dominated the early proceedings and looked like they could win comfortably after Phil Foden pounced on a