Bernardo Silva has revealed whether he would rather win the Champions League or the Ballon d’Or.
So far in his career, while Bernardo Silva has won the Champions League, he is yet to win football’s most prestigious individual award.
The £43 million man has finished ninth in the rankings for the Ballon d’Or on two separate occasions — 2019 and 2023.
Bernardo Silva answers whether he’d rather win the Champions League or the Ballon d’Or
However, the Manchester City midfielder is yet to come truly close to winning the award, unlike Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne who finished second and third in 2023 and 2022 respectively.
In an interview with Sky Sports, the 29-year-old first gave his views on individual awards.
Bernardo Silva opened: “Recognition is always nice.”
“In my opinion, I give the right amount of importance to these awards. Because at the end of the day, we are playing a collective sport. Nowadays, the individual awards always go to the strikers because they have that last touch.”
“But if you understand the game, a person who is inside the game, either a player or a manager, you know how important it is to have a proper goalkeeper, a proper defender, a proper midfielder and a proper striker. Not just a proper striker.”
The Portuguese international added: “Strikers do not win you titles alone. The base comes from defence. If you defend well, you will attack better. When I look at individual awards and I see that only the guys who score goals win the awards I feel a bit like it does not represent our sport that well.”
Bernardo Silva went on to claim that he would rather win the Champions League than the Ballon d’Or.
“I always do my best to support my teammates and do what is best for the team.”
“In the end, winning the Champions League is much better than winning a Ballon d’Or. I would not swap it. No chance.”
No surprise to hear Bernardo Silva make this admission
In our view, it does not come as a surprise that Bernardo Silva would rather win the Champions League than the Ballon d’Or.
Known for giving his all on the pitch and happily playing in a wide variety of positions, the former AS Monaco technician is as selfless as a player can be.
Off the pitch as well, Bernardo Silva does not make much headlines.
Even when the ex-Benfica attacker is linked with an exit from City, he does not make a fuss and simply goes about his business — making him quite an understated character.
With the type of player Bernardo Silva is and how his personality comes across as one can gauge why he would rather win a collective trophy like the Champions League over the Ballon d’Or.
Every player should be primarily aiming to win a collective trophy over an individual award.
Football is a team sport and to prioritise individual glory over collective success is not the best outlook for a player to have.