Bernardo Silva: I asked to be substituted in Portugal defeat
Stuart Hodge
- Updated: 23 May 2023 08:54 CDT
- 5 min read
Manchester City star Bernardo Silva has admitted he asked to get substituted during Portugal's 2-1 defeat against Serbia last night in Lisbon.
The defeat leaves the Euro 2016 winners' hopes of reaching the World Cup in trouble, as they now require to come through two playoff ties to reach Qatar.
Silva started the match but came off after 63 minutes to be replaced by Bruno Fernandes.
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He admitted that he thought by that stage, another player would give country a better chance of winning.
"I played a little bit limited," he said.
"I tried to give my best until the moment came when I thought that another player would be in better conditions."
Silva apologises to fans after defeat/h2>
The star admitted he is not fully match fit, as he apologised to Portugal fans for the disappointing defeat, which came courtesy of Aleksandar Mitrovic's 90th minute winner for the Serbs, who secured an automatic qualification berth with the goal.
SCENES! 🤯
Aleksandar Mitrović scored an injury-time winner as Serbia leapfrogged Portugal to seal their place at the 2022 World Cup! 🇷🇸🔥 pic.twitter.com/EOod5NCYAR— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) November 14, 2021
It looked like Portugal would be on course for the World Cup Finals when Renato Sanches gave the team the lead early on at the Estadio Da Luz.
But goals from Dusan Tadic and then Mitrovic made sure it was Serbia who were celebrating at the end.
Silva said: "It was a bad game for Portugal. We managed to score the goal early but from then on we stopped playing. I cannot find a great explanation for this, words fail me.
"It was terrible, we have to do much better because we have a play-off in March and we will do our best to qualify. But at home, with 65,000 fans, we had to do much better.
"I apologise to the Portuguese [fans] who watched a game they shouldn't have watched. The plan was to try to have the ball, we were completely dominated by Serbia. With the quality of our players this is hardly admissible."
