Bernardo Silva felt Manchester City had fallen into a "dark place" after being thrashed 4-1 by Sporting Lisbon.
City were stunned by incoming Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim's side at the Jose Alvalade Stadium on Tuesday, slumping to a third successive defeat after a hat-trick by former Coventry striker Viktor Gyokeres.
It was also City’s first reverse in the Champions League – excluding a penalty shoot-out – since 2022 and, coming after losses to Tottenham and Bournemouth in the past week, Silva feels the team must do some soul-searching.
"It’s disappointing because we’re a bit in a dark place right now," the Portugal international told TNT Sports. "Everything looks to be going in the wrong way.
"Even when we are playing well we don’t score our chances and we concede too easily.
"We definitely need to look inside and check what we’re not doing well, and we need to get better very quickly otherwise it will be very difficult to come back from these losses."
Manager Pep Guardiola had a more optimistic outlook and insisted he was relishing the challenge of bouncing back.
The City boss, who takes his side to Brighton on Saturday, said: "I don’t agree with him. We are not in the dark side.
"We played really bad against Bournemouth but really good here. The only regret is conceding the third and fourth – the penalties were not necessary.
"We knew it would be a tough season at the start and this is what it is. I like it, I love it, I want to face it and lift my players. Life is like this. We continue.
"What should we do? We go back to Manchester and prepare for the game at Brighton. I won’t give up, that’s for sure."
City had dominated the early proceedings and looked like they could win comfortably after Phil Foden pounced on a mistake to open the scoring after four minutes.
The game turned when Gyokeres – tipped to follow Amorim to Old Trafford – broke clear to level and the Swede added two more from the spot after Maximiliano Araujo put Sporting ahead.
City’s frustration was compounded when Erling Haaland missed a penalty.
It made for the perfect send-off for Amorim, who was taking charge of his final home match before officially starting work at United next week.
Amorim, who took a long lap of honour after the game, said: "Those who were here and have seen Sporting over the last four years deserved a night like this. It was very special.
"But we shouldn’t stop here, it shouldn’t be a one-off. It was special in the circumstances but we have to think about the next match against Braga.
"Perhaps it was written in the stars we should end this way. I will keep these memories forever but I cannot enjoy them fully yet."
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