Danny Murphy has claimed that one Manchester City player did something “clever” in his team’s clash at Euro 2024 on Tuesday.
The only City players who were involved at the tournament on the day were Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias for Portugal in their 2-1 victory against Czechia.
Manchester City midfielder Matheus Nunes was an unused substitute.
Bernardo and Dias played the full game for Roberto Martinez’s goal, who clawed back a one-goal deficit, courtesy of an own goal from Robert Hranac and a 92-minute winner from Francisco Conceicao.
Danny Murphy makes observation about “clever” Bernardo Silva as Portugal beat Czechia
It seemed like the Portuguese were set to drop points after Diogo Jota’s late winner was chalked off due to Cristiano Ronaldo being offside in the build-up to the goal.
However, as top teams do, Martinez’s side continued to search for the winning goal and their efforts were eventually rewarded.
In the lead-up to Robert Hranac’s own goal, Danny Murphy praised Bernardo for playing the ball back to Vitinha, whose cross led to Nuno Mendes heading it into Jindrich Stanek’s path — who made a meal of claiming the ball as it hit his teammate and ended up as a goal.
On BBC Sport, Murphy said: “Clever bit of play from Bernardo Silva. Vitinha sends it to the back post and the goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek pushes it, it is unlucky for Robin Hranac.”
“It’s an easy save really and Stanek should be getting hold of it, a gift.”
Bernardo Silva showed a lot of composure in the situation
As Danny Murphy stated, Bernardo was clever in how he decided to retain the ball before handing it to Vitinha.
When the ball came into the £43 million man’s path, he had the chance to cross it.
However, with Czechia’s defenders flooding the box, it seemed difficult for any of Portugal’s attackers to find any space to equalise.
In addition, when the ball was in Bernardo’s path, it was on his weaker right foot.
Instead of putting in a weak cross, the six-time Premier League winner took a few touches and let Vitinha put the ball into the box with his stronger right foot.
While luck played a huge role in the goal, if not for Bernardo’s composure in the situation, Portugal may have never levelled the proceedings.