'In a dark place' - Bernardo Silva's honest reaction after Man City's brutal battering by Ruben Amorim's Sporting but Pep Guardiola vows 'I want to fight'

City went ahead in the third minute through a Phil Foden strike but Sporting destroyed them on the counterattack, with Viktor Gyokeres scoring a hat-trick, two of which came from the penalty spot. Erling Haaland missed a penalty down the other end on what was an unforgettable farewell for Manchester United-bound coach Ruben Amorim. Silva gave an honest but downcast interview, while the coach hit out at his team for losing their cool in key moments.

"It's disappointing because we're a bit in a dark place right now. Everything looks to be going in the wrong way," Silva told TNT Sports. "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. It's football. It's difficult to find reasons for what is happening to us. I don't remember in seven-and-a-half seasons this team losing three games in a row. It just looks like this team is going the wrong way now."

The City boss added: "The result is there, we congratulate Sporting for the game. We made a fantastic first half, then we struggled to score when we created, then we conceded when the opponents did not do much. Sometimes they can run, they can punish us a little bit, it can happen. But we have to avoid [what happened for] the third and fourth goal [both penalties]. Emotionally we were not stable enough, in this competition you have to be stable."

The hammering in Lisbon followed City's loss at Tottenham in the Carabao Cup and at Bournemouth in the Premier League. It is only the third time during Guardiola's nine-year spell in charge that the club have lost three games in a row in all competitions, and only the second time in the same season. The coach, however, relished the challenge of putting things right. He said: "It's a difficult moment in terms of the result but I want to be here, I want to fight. I won't give up, I like this challenge I have as a manager ahead of me."

This was only the second time City have conceded four goals in the Champions League under Guardiola. The other occasion was when they were beaten 4-0 by Barcelona in the coach's first season in charge back in 2016-17.

City will be looking to avoid a fourth successive defeat when they travel to Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday. They will also be looking to reclaim their lead at the top of the Premier League after surrendering the No. 1 spot to Liverpool.