Explosive comment in Etihad Stadium tunnel last season revealed what Man City squad really think of Arsenal

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As players leave the Etihad Stadium, they pass journalists on the way to their team coach – and that is where Bernardo Silva offered an explosive interview last season after a bad-tempered clash between Manchester City and Arsenal.

Arsenal had come from behind in the first half, but a controversial red card on the stroke of half-time for Leandro Trossard gave City a route back into the game.

City pressed for an equaliser and would eventually find it in the 98th minute through John Stones, sending the Etihad ecstatic and leaving Arsenal furious, sparking angry confrontations on the bench.

Erling Haaland threw a ball at Gunners defender Gabriel Magalhaes immediately after Stones’ goal, and the striker then told Mikel Arteta to ‘stay humble’ at full-time before the fall-out continued as the two squads left the stadium.

Bernardo Silva accused Arsenal of ‘not trying to play football’ after bad-tempered Man City draw

Arsenal pulled out all the tricks to hold onto their lead in that Etihad draw, running the clock down and prompting John Stones to accuse them of using ‘dark arts’.

Bernardo Silva went further, asked for the difference between City’s rivalry with Liverpool and their contests with Arsenal.

“There was only one team that came to play football,” he told TNT Brazil. “The other came to play to the limits of what was possible to do and allowed by the referee, unfortunately.

“The difference? I don’t know. Maybe that Liverpool have already won a Premier League, Arsenal haven’t. That Liverpool have won a Champions League, Arsenal haven’t.

“Liverpool always faced us face to face to try to win the games, so by this perspective the games against Arsenal haven’t been like the ones we had and have against Liverpool. So yes, maybe a different rivalry.”

Tempers flare in recent Arsenal vs Man City clashes, Erling Haaland and Myles Lewis-Skelly rivalry to continue

Bernardo Silva had earlier held up his hand in a ‘zero’ shape to Arsenal fans, possible to reference their lack of trophies, while Haaland made his infamous ‘humble’ comment.

Haaland also reportedly shouted an expletive to Arsenal’s teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly at the Etihad, asking who he was.

In the next meeting between the sides, Arsenal ran out dominant winners at the Emirates in a 5-1 win in February. So when Lewis-Skelly got on the scoresheet in that big win, he pulled out Haaland’s trademark ‘meditation’ celebration in what was perceived to be a direct response.

Relations between the sides have not necessarily improved between the sides, with Rodri insisting that he ‘doesn’t care’ what happened last season. And Bernardo has at least showed a little more respect to the Gunners than last season, calling them a ‘strong team’ and expressing the importance of taking points from a ‘Premier League contender’.