Silva: City’s mental strength will help us progress

David Silva believes the mental strength Manchester City showed in their 5-3 victory over Monaco in the Champions League will help them improve on previous showing in Europe.

City found themselves 3-2 down on Tuesday night with just 20 minutes to play, but three late goals saw them defeat the Ligue 1 side.

The Blues reached the semi-final stage last season, losing out to Spanish giants Real Madrid, and Silva insists the resolve shown midweek was as significant as the win.

“We came from behind but we could win the game, which is the most important,” he said.

“The strong mentality that we had shown is as important as the final result.

“City have been in Europe for a few years. Last year we reached the semi-finals. We have a very strong team, and there’s also some young players.

“All that we want is to grow as a team, improve and go as far as we can in the Champions League. This kind of game will help us in this process.”

(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Despite receiving criticism over their defending, Silva maintains his side’s attacking style frightens their opponents.

“We know that we are a team that are always trying to attack and this kind of things – conceding three goals – can happen,” he said.

“Sometimes there are a lot of space behind our defenders. At the end we scored five goals and we had chances to score some more. It was a great performance.”