Napoli vs Manchester City: David Silva PRAYS every night that City can win Champions League
Pep Guardiola hoping to achieve glory together with his countryman after admitting he failed to sign him at Barcelona
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DAVID SILVA says he prays every night to win the Champions League with Manchester City.
And the brilliant Spaniard is hoping to extend his contract at the Etihad to make sure he does.
Silva has one of the most outstanding CVs in the game with a World Cup and two European Championships to his name for his national team.
At City he has a clean sweep of domestic medals — including two Premier League titles and three cups.
Yet Europe’s biggest club prize has continued to elude him with his team struggling to make a major impact at the business end of the competition.
Some believe this could be about to change, with several European heavyweights struggling to find their stride and Pep Guardiola’s men in blistering form.
Silva certainly hopes so — as does his current boss who described him as the ‘Master’. Silva said: “It would be amazing to do it. I pray every night to win the Champions League with City.
“Hopefully we can win this year. We are playing really good football, beautiful football, scoring so many goals and creating a lot of chances.
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“I think we are doing very well in all the lines, from the keeper to the striker we know how to move every time. You can see it every game.”
Silva has another 18 months of his contract at City still to run and turns 32 early next year.
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Yet as SunSport revealed in June, he is keen to extend a stay which already stands at seven-and-a-half years.
The man that City fans affectionately call ‘Merlin’ would love to complete a decade with the club before returning home to Gran Canaria.
He said: “We are still talking. I hope I can sign soon because I’d love to be here playing for City for ten years.”
Guardiola would certainly love that too. He has admitted before that he enquired about taking the former Valencia star to join him at Barcelona.
Barca could not match the financial muscle of City back then but he is delighted to be finally working with the gifted midfielder.
Kevin de Bruyne may have taken most of the plaudits in the engine room this season but his side-kick is appreciated everywhere at City — from the stands to the manager.
Guardiola said: “I believe it’s impossible to play quite good if the ball isn’t passed in the middle, but it’s a lot of risk to pass in the middle because it’s a counter-attack.
“Always I put in the middle the players who can keep the ball as long as possible even with a lot of pressure from the opponent and David is a master at that.
“You see he’s shy, he doesn’t talk too much, but when he goes on the pitch he is a huge personality. It’s never one step back, in the bad moments he always makes a step forward, he is a legend at this club.
“It would’ve been a pleasure to take him to Barcelona but he was so expensive.”
Pep and Silva look like a match made in heaven in terms of their philosophy on how the game should be played.
And Silva admits he is enjoying his current role.
He said: “It’s a good position for me. I love to play in the middle and be in contact with the ball all the time.
“To create chances you have to be more involved in the game, so I’m very happy to play in that positon.”
Silva is one of only a handful of survivors from City’s last visit to the Stadio San Paolo in 2011.
Back then a 2-1 defeat virtually ended their hopes of reaching the knockout stages in their first-ever Champions League campaign.
This time they know a draw would guarantee their place in the last 16 with two matches still to play. Silva added: “I just remember we lost that night so I don’t have good memories of this stadium. Hopefully that will change.”
While a point will be enough, you can be sure that neither Guardiola nor Silva will be going into this game looking for a draw.
Despite his name, the Spanish playmaker is a winner — not a man who settles for coming second in anything — and his manager agrees.
Pep said: “Why play for a draw when we can play for a win?
“We are going to try to win.
“Whether it’s West Brom, Napoli, when we play a game we always want to win, after that we will see what happens.”
