Bernardo: Winning FA Cup won’t redeem season

Bernardo Silva has said he believes even winning the FA Cup won’t redeem Manchester City’s season.

City secured their spot in the FA Cup semifinals on Sunday after a comeback 2-1 win at Bournemouth. In an eventful game at the Vitality Stadium, the hosts took the lead through Evanlison after Erling Haaland had missed a penalty earlier in the half.

The Norway international made amends after the break with a finish at the far post but had to go off near the hour mark because of injury. His replacement, Omar Marmoush, scored moments after coming on to book City a Wembley showdown against Nottingham Forest.

The FA Cup remains City’s only chance at winning silverware this season. They faced early exits in the Carabao Cup and Champions League and are fifth in the Premier League, 22 points behind leaders Liverpool.

When asked by ESPN post-match on Sunday if winning the FA Cup would make the season a successful one, Silva said: “No, our standards are much higher than this.

“So of course we would be happy [to win the FA Cup] but it doesn’t make the season good.”

City’s season cratered towards the end of 2024, when they went on a run of five successive defeats in all competitions. Their last game of the year — a 2-0 win over Leicester City — was their first league win in 14 matches.

City’s form improved at the turn of the year with the arrival of new signings like Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez and Abdukodir Khusanov, all of whom were involved at the Vitality on Sunday.

When asked if their additions have helped the squad return to full-strength, Silva said: “Unfortunately, we had all the injuries, all the problems in the squad, which didn’t help. But yeah, that’s still no excuse.

“We own the bad months that we have. We don’t make excuses. We should have done much better than that. And from now on, what we can control is our performances, and today was a good performance for the team.”