Manchester City is in a “dark place” after defeat against Sporting – Bernardo Silva

Manchester City’s shock 4-1 defeat away to Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday left them in a “dark place”, captain Bernardo Silva said.

A hat-trick from Swedish striker Victor Gyukiris saw Sporting come back from a goal down to stun Pep Guardiola’s 2022-23 European champions who have now lost three games in a row in all competitions for the first time since 2018.

“At the beginning of the second half, we gave them a lot of opportunities to be present and score goals,” the Portuguese midfielder said. “It’s disappointing, because we’re in a bit of a dark place at the moment, and everything seems to be going in the wrong direction even when we’re playing well.

“Definitely, we need to look inward and check what we are not doing well and start improving very quickly. Otherwise it will be difficult to come back from these losses.”

While injury-plagued City are certainly not in a crisis, the English champions have had an unimpressive week.

First, they were knocked out of the League Cup by Tottenham Hotspur, then their 32-match unbeaten run in the Premier League was ended by Bournemouth at the weekend.

When Phil Foden gave them an early lead in Lisbon on Tuesday, they looked to be back in the game again, but in some tricky finishing touches they may have been out of sight.

But the way they lost control of the game after Gyukiris equalized near the end of the first half was completely unexpected.

They fell behind straight after half-time and then conceded two needless penalties, both of which were converted by Gjokeres, with Erling Haaland having a penalty rebound off the crossbar.

“It’s football and, as I said, it’s difficult to find reasons for what’s happening to us now,” Bernardo Silva said. “I don’t remember in seven and a half seasons this team losing three games in a row. Everything seems to be going in the wrong direction now.

“It is clear that we need to perform better. Our injured players need to come back because we need them. And that is not good enough at the moment.”

City, who were without the likes of Rodri, Jack Grealish, Ruben Dias and John Stones and handed a first start to 19-year-old defender Jahami Simpson Bossy, are away to Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend in the Premier League.