It’s been a strong start to the international break for Manchester City’s jet-setting contingent.
Manchester City have 16 players from Pep Guardiola’s squad off representing their countries during the international break this week and some have already been in action.
Portugal destroyed Sweden 5-2 in a friendly on Thursday night with Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and Matheus Nunes all starting.
Bernardo was typically brilliant as he set up the first two goals but Nunes also impressed as he scored with a fantastic strike in an all-action performance.
The midfielder earned praise from the Portuguese media as well as manager Roberto Martinez.
While Nunes will stay with the squad for Tuesday’s match with Slovenia,Bernardo and Dias have been sent home with Martinez aiming to look at other players ahead of Euro 2024.
Nathan Ake then enjoyed a good night on Friday as his Netherlands team ran out 4-0 winners over Scotland.
Nathan Ake puts in a brilliant display
The Oranje ran out comfortable victors in the end but it was a tight affair until the closing stages of the match.
The Netherlands only took the lead in the 40th minute through Tijjani Reijnders and their advantage remained narrow until the 72nd minute when Geroginio Wijnaldum doubled it.
Wout Weghorst and Donyell Malen then secured the win late on.
So it wasn’t a complete walk in the park, with Ake and his fellow defenders given a decent amount of work to do.
But Ake did it all excellently from a left-back position. According to FotMob, the £41m man won all his tackles and all his aerial duels, made six recoveries, an interception, a clearance and obviously kept a clean sheet.
He was impressive going forward, too, as he maintained a 93% passing accuracy, bested by just one teammate, had 76 touches and made five passes into the final third.
Ake continues to be excellent
A sloppy back-pass to Ederson that proved to be very costly against Liverpool aside, Ake has hardly put a foot wrong all season.
Whether it’s left-back or centre-back, the 29-year-old is a consistently composed and classy operator going in both directions.
Ake is a big-game player, too, and will be needed in the massive Premier League clash with Arsenal next week.