Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva believes a successful team requires more than four leaders as he looks to create the right environment at the club.

The Portugal international was given the role by Pep Guardiola ahead of the Club World Cup following the departure of Kevin De Bruyne at the end of the 2024-25 season.

After losing two of their three opening Premier League matches, the Citizens have won four of their last five matches in all competitions.

Ahead of his return to former club Monaco in the Champions League, Silva has encouraged more leaders to show their quality at the club.

“Man City was so successful in the last eight years not because one captain was really good but because we have a group of great leaders,” said Silva.

“Obviously as the first captain you have to make sure some things don’t happen to create that environment but what we’ve seen is a group of great characters.

“My job now is to create that energy back so people behave right, arrive early to training.

“In terms of responsibility you need more than four [captains], we had 10 or 15 players like that who behaved as captains.”

After losing against Monaco at the Stade Louis II in March 2017, City boss Pep Guardiola could lose his first two away games against an opponent for just the third time in his managerial career (also v Barcelona in October 2016 and Liverpool in January 2018).

Monaco have only lost one of their seven home matches against English sides in the Champions League (W5 D1), with their lone defeat coming against Arsenal in March 2015 (0-2).

Silva, who was a part of the Monaco side that defeated City in 2017, is relishing a return to his former team.

“I was here [Monaco] for three seasons and have great memories,” added Silva.

“It was the first opportunity for me to lay at the high level. I’m really happy to be here.

“Good memories for us at the time, it was unbelievable to beat a team like Man City. We did really well in all competitions. We reached the semi-finals [of the Champions League].

“It was a young team showing themselves to the world.”