Manchester City captain and one of the team’s key leaders, Bernardo Silva, gave very high marks to the performance of two centre-backs — our compatriot Abduqodir Khusanov and Max Alleyn — after the match against Newcastle. The Portuguese midfielder highlighted not only their technical quality, but also their character and mental resilience.
In Silva’s view, Khusanov and Alleyn have delivered not just “nice football” in recent games, but truly reliable defending:
“Abduqodir Khusanov and Max Alleyn have been outstanding in the last few matches. The personality and character they’ve shown is not something everyone can do. To come into the team at this level, under that much pressure, to dare to build from the back, and to stay consistent and dependable — that’s very difficult,” Bernardo said.
Silva also reminded that playing at Newcastle’s ground is never easy. The atmosphere is intense, the pressure is high, and every mistake gets punished. Yet even in those conditions, the defenders kept their composure:
“Once again we played in a very tough stadium — we know how hard it is to play here. But they did really well.”
Bernardo Silva also acknowledged the contribution of other players. In particular, he noted that Antoine Semeno played well, while goalkeeper James Trafford kept the team in the game with several crucial saves.
As a reminder, the Cityzens won 2–0 today thanks to goals from Semeno and Cherki, giving themselves a much more comfortable position ahead of the second leg. Most importantly, the growing trust in a young but strong-minded defender like Khusanov is a positive signal for both the team and for us: we have “one of our own” in top-level football, and he isn’t afraid of pressure.
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