Sport

Bernardo Silva refused to speak to Bruno Fernandes during the FA Cup final

Bruno felt comfortable chatting but Bernardo was having none of it.

Danny Jones - 5th June 2023

The first-ever Manchester Derby FA Cup final in history was always going to be an acrimonious affair, but one flare-up fans might not have expected came between midfielders Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva.

Man City took one step closer to winning the treble on Saturday — a feat which would see them equal United’s treasured achievement in 1999 — but at half-time, Bernardo Silva’s derby day mentality was well and truly locked in as the two Portuguese players had a little spat on the pitch.

With the United captain walking up to share a few words with his international teammate as they went to walk down the tunnel, City’s number 20 had no interest in chatting with his compatriot.

In fact, in a moment picked up by the cameras on the day, Bernardo not only did his best to ignore Bruno but even shoved him away when his opposite numbers tried to get his attention.

No wonder Portugal have never been close to winning a World Cup. These lot hate each other.pic.twitter.com/Hyn94tRQO3
— Mu. (@FutbolMuu) June 3, 2023

Bernardo Silva pushes Bruno Fernandes away as he tries to chat in the middle of the derby.

That’s an icy blue cold shoulder if we’ve ever seen one. Admittedly, Silva looked to have been chatting with the officials and Bruno could have been trying to casually intervene but either way, he wasn’t having any of it.

Despite apparently having been friends ever since they met in Portugal’s under-18s camp, it’s clear that City star Silva was fully focused on seeing out the result and had no time for pleasantries with the task still at hand.

Moreover, while Fernandes has previously insisted he has “a great relationship with Bernardo” and that the two share regular WhatsApp messages throughout the season, he did admit ahead of that game they “normally don’t speak” until after the full-time whistle these days.

That being said, it would seem only Silva got the derby day memo this time around and, much like City have been on the pitch for a good five or six seasons now, he chose to remain ruthless and quite literally push his friendship to the side.

Although seeing rival players (often fellow countrymen or ex-teammates) greeting and hugging each other before, during and after a game is much more commonplace these days, it’s still one that split opinion — especially if you’re Roy Keane.

The United legend has previously slammed a number of players from his former club for being far too friendly in the tunnel before going up against each other — including in a Manchester derby not long ago — stating that they need to “cut that” and “just get down the tunnel”.

Nevertheless, it looks as though the more cutthroat attitude helped the Blues on the day, scoring within 13 seconds to set the tone for the rest of the game.

Pep Guardiola‘s side now only needs to win one more game, the Champions League final against Inter Milan this weekend, to do the treble and put themselves even deeper into the history books than they already are. Regardless, many already believe Pep will go down as the greatest of all time.