Bernardo Silva has expressed his concern that Manchester City have slipped into a "dark place" following their shocking 4-1 defeat at the hands of Sporting.
The Premier League champions were left reeling as Ruben Amorim's team, with the manager set to take over at Manchester United, delivered a stunning performance at the Jose Alvalade Stadium on Tuesday, handing City their third consecutive loss.
The Portuguese side were spearheaded by an impressive hat-trick from ex-Coventry forward Viktor Gyokeres.
This marked City's first Champions League defeat barring shoot-outs since 2022 and followed recent setbacks against Tottenham and Bournemouth.
Reflecting on this troubling streak, Silva, speaking to TNT Sports, admitted: "It's disappointing because we're a bit in a dark place right now. 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."
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In contrast, City's manager Pep Guardiola maintained a more positive stance, disagreeing with Silva's bleak assessment. Guardiola, gearing up for the upcoming match against Brighton, countered: "I don't agree with him. We are not in the dark side."
Despite acknowledging the poor showing against Bournemouth, Guardiola praised his team's effort in Lisbon but rued the late penalties conceded, stating: "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."
The match initially seemed to tip in City's favour when Phil Foden capitalised on a blunder to give them an early lead. Yet, the tables turned dramatically as Gyokeres equalised before claiming a brace from the penalty spot following Maximiliano Araujo's goal propelling Sporting ahead.
Adding to City's woes was Erling Haaland's failed attempt at converting a penalty.
As it was Amorim's last home game before embarking on his new journey with United, he savoured the moment, saying post-match: "Those who were here and have seen Sporting over the last four years deserved a night like this. It was very special.
"But we shouldn't stop here, it shouldn't be a one-off. It was special in the circumstances but we have to think about the next match against Braga.
"Perhaps it was written in the stars we should end this way. I will keep these memories forever but I cannot enjoy them fully yet."
