‘A weird team to beat’: Bernardo Silva explains why Real Madrid are strong

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva has admitted Real Madrid are a “weird” team to face, stating why the Spanish giant are hard to beat.

Bernardo Silva was on the receiving end when Manchester City and Real Madrid face off in the 2023/24 Champions League quarter-final.

Madrid secured a 3-3 draw in the first leg before advancing on penalties in the reverse fixture as both team played out a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes.

City managed well over 60% possession in both legs this season and 45 shots on goal across the two games, but Madrid soaked up the pressure and punished Pep Guardiola’s side on the break.

Silva has now revealed why Carlo Ancelotti’s team are a hard nut to crack.

“Real Madrid are a weird team,” Silva told TNT Sports. “Sometimes it seems like you have control of the game and out of nowhere, they run twice [on the counter] and score two goals because their players individually are very good. They are so fast and strong on the counterattack that it is not easy to control them.

“If you attack with too many players, they run on the counter. If you don’t attack with many players, it feels like you’re not effective enough to attack them properly. So it is difficult to make these small decisions in the game.”

Real Madrid will be facing Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final and it’s left to see if Thomas Tuchel’s team will crack their hard nut.