'Couldn't be worse!' - Dutch icon Marco van Basten savages Manchester City ace after penalty shootout heartbreak against Real Madrid

City were knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by the Spanish giants, in a tie that ended 4-4 on aggregate before a shootout was required. Prior to Antonio Rudiger's spot-kick sending Madrid through to the semi-finals, Silva's effort from 12 yards was easily saved by goalkeeper Andriy Lunin - who barely had to move to make the stop. After the match, Netherlands hero Van Basten heavily criticised the Portuguese's penalty attempt.

He said on Ziggo Sport: “If you are talking about a poorly taken penalty, then this is a poorly taken penalty. If the goalkeeper chooses a corner, he can still kick it away with his foot. This one was taken especially bad, really special bad. He can mark it, he can wait and see what the goalkeeper does, but he doesn’t do any of that. He shoots it half high, not into the corner and not hard. This couldn’t be worse.”

Before this heavyweight clash at the Etihad on Wednesday, Silva spoke of City targeting their second straight treble but Madrid ended that dream by the narrowest of margins. They can still win the Premier League and FA Cup, though, and that is what Pep Guardiola will be urging his team to do.

City star Silva can redeem himself on Saturday when Guardiola's men take on Chelsea in the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley, followed by a trip to the Amex to face Brighton on Thursday in the Premier League.