Despite having played for 90 minutes against Manchester United at the weekend, Manchester City star Bernardo Silva isn’t fit for Portugal’s next game.
The news was given today by national team manager Fernando Santos, who in a press conference, confirmed that the 27-year-old will not be featuring in the match against Ireland.
“He arrived tired, complaining, he has many games on him, and couldn’t go to training, but he’s recovering well and we hope and we believe he’ll be able to play here with Serbia,” said Fernando Santos (via Record).
“He won’t even travel with us, it doesn’t make sense because we don’t consider him to be at 100 percent. It wouldn’t be the best conditions for the treatment he’s undergoing, he’ll stay here so that he can start to join the group”.”
Portugal play Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Thursday, then return home to face Serbia in Lisbon on Sunday, when Silva should be ready to feature for the national team again.
That should also be a decisive match for the top of Group A in the World Cup qualifiers, so the Manchester City player will certainly do his best to be there.
With 15 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side this season, Silva has been holding a starting spot both in the Premier League and in the Champions League. In case all goes fine during the international break, he’s back in Manchester for the match against Everton on November 21st.
