Bernardo Silva did not hold back in his criticism of Arsenal’s title ambitions following a heated draw between Manchester City and the Gunners on Sunday night.
Silva took aim at Arsenal’s tactics, their trophy record, and what he described as time-wasting during the match.
The thrilling encounter at the Etihad Stadium saw Manchester City held to a 2-2 draw.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City, but two first-half goals from Arsenal quickly shifted the momentum.
The match took a further turn when Leandro Trossard was shown a red card just before half-time, leaving Arsenal down to 10 men.
The second half was dominated by City, who spent the majority of the 56-minute period camped inside Arsenal’s penalty area.
Despite relentless pressure, it took until the 98th minute for John Stones to fire in a deserved equaliser, levelling the score and bringing a fiery contest to an end.
Speaking to TNT Brazil after the game, Silva expressed frustration with Arsenal’s approach, accusing them of time-wasting and employing overly physical tactics.
His sharp comments added fuel to what had already been a bad-tempered affair.
“There was only one team that came to play football,” he said.
“The other came to play to the limits of what was possible to do and allowed by the referee, unfortunately.
“But at the end we got a draw, the best we could get considering the context of the last moments of the match.
“We’re not happy as we wanted the three points, but personally I’m happy with the way we came to play and faced the game.
“I’m glad we always enter the pitch to try to win every match.
He added: “It all started in the very first second.
“In the first action we realised what was going to happen.
“We had a player injured [Rodri] after they sent him to the ground twice in 10 minutes.
“We had a goal conceded after the referee called our captain and then didn’t allow him to recover his position.
“The second goal is already their usual block to our keeper allowed by the referee.
“And then the referee allowed a sequence of time-wasting events.
“The thing that bothers me the most is having a lot of meetings with the FA at the beginning of each season.
“They tell us they will control this kind of situation and will stop them, but at the end it doesn’t have any worth.
“They say a lot but nothing happens.”
On the difference between Liverpool and Arsenal, Bernardo said: “The difference? I don’t know.
“Maybe that Liverpool have already won a Premier League, Arsenal haven’t.
“That Liverpool have won a Champions League, Arsenal haven’t.
“Liverpool always faced us face to face to try to win the games, so by this perspective the games against Arsenal haven’t been like the ones we had and have against Liverpool.
“So yes, maybe a different rivalry.”
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