It was a match decided by fine margins but also one-third of a marathon.
The two stand-out statistics from an outstanding evening’s entertainment at the Etihad were of course the 11.2 millimetres that prevented Liverpool from opening the scoring, but also the 13.7 kilometres clocked up by Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, the most of any individual player in a Premier League match this season.
The ‘distance covered’ statistics are regularly trotted out when it comes to Pep Guardiola’s City, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool and this modern age of hyper-pressing but rarely with the context required to make them significant. Headless chickens have been known to cover a lot of ground too, you know.
Bernardo was running more than anyone else, that much was clear, but he was also making more interceptions than any other player, halting Liverpool’s fast counters in their embryonic stage. He was committing the most fouls as well, though only ever doing so intelligently, always choosing the right moments to draw Anthony Taylor’s whistle.
And, when the score was still at deadlock and five minutes remained before the interval, it was his long, arching dribble around the outside of Georginio Wijnaldum then back in towards the byline that allowed him to find Sergio Aguero, who in turn found a sliver of space present between Alisson and the near post to put City ahead.
“[Bernardo] did everything. He won all the duels,” Guardiola eulogised in his post-match press conference. “He is the smallest one. He shows that to play football, you have to be good. Of course, I would prefer to have a taller team or more physical but Bernardo is incredible. [It’s] a long time since I’ve seen a performance like he did in all terms. He is precise, he is clean, he is clever.”
He is also patient. For Bernardo, last year was a challenging one following his £43m arrival from Monaco. Though an immensely popular figure in the dressing room and highly regarded by Guardiola and his staff, he was little more than a spare part during the months that City’s Premier League title was won.
His first pair of consecutive 90-minute Premier League appearances came in February. He had previously only started and finished a league match twice, namely City’s victories at home to Burnley and away to Swansea. In the six games against ‘top six’ peers, Guardiola trusted Bernardo for a grand total of only 43 minutes.
This year is a different story. Bernardo has been involved in the cut and thrust of City’s title defence rather than spending it on the peripheries and though he continues to be loudly touted as the successor to his namesake David Silva, it is Kevin De Bruyne that he has effortlessly and successfully replaced.
On an alternative timeline, the two separate knee ligament injuries to City’s outstanding player of last season could have proved enough to sink the defence of their crown before it began. It is a testament to Bernardo that De Bruyne’s absence barely registered during the combined 106 days of his absence and last night, for the evening on which City’s entire campaign could turn, there was a fitting reprise.
Having missed Sunday’s win in Southampton, De Bruyne had recovered well enough from a minor muscle problem to be named as a substitute by Guardiola but, even once parity was restored with 25 minutes remaining, the Belgian was not introduced. Bernardo remained, continuing to combine his natural, technical interplay with endeavour and aggression.
No, one ‘distance covered’ statistic devoid of context does not tell the full story of the 5ft 8in Portuguese’s quietly impressive individual campaign to date. So how about two? After last night, which player has now covered the second-most ground of any individual in a single Premier League match this season?
That's right. It's still Bernardo Silva.
