Bernardo Silva insists he does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as his international team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola recently said Silva was Portugal’s “biggest star” as he hailed the playmaker’s performances for his side.
But on Tuesday five-time world player of the year Ronaldo underlined his enduring class by scoring a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid as Juventus overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit to join City in the Champions League quarter-finals.
“Of course Cristiano – what he has done over the last 15 years in football – is probably one of the best players ever in the history of football, so no comparison to him.”
City will discover their quarter-final opponents on Friday and Silva, who on Wednesday signed a contract extension keeping him at the Etihad Stadium until 2025, admits he would not relish a clash with Ronaldo.
Obrigado @Cristiano !????? pic.twitter.com/5tzJHrJRqu
— Bernardo Silva (@BernardoCSilva) June 25, 2017
The 24-year-old said: “I wouldn’t like it very much, to be honest. I know him, I know what he’s capable of and once again he proved it.
“When you are playing in a competition like the Champions League you have to know that you can get drawn against these kind of teams, these kind of players, and it is a good thing.
“It means you are playing in the best competitions.
Quadruple-chasing City powered into the last eight themselves as they thrashed Schalke 7-0 at the Etihad Stadium to complete a 10-2 aggregate success.
After three successive hard-fought wins against defensively minded sides in the Premier League, City were back to their most clinical.
It was the seventh time they had scored six or more in a match this season.
“We try to score goals, try not to concede and prevent the counter-attacks.
“Sometimes it’s complicated because the teams defend very deep against us but of course we try to be very offensive and create chances to score lots of goals.”
