Monaco star Silva lauds ´special´ Mbappe

Monaco midfielder Bernardo Silva has hailed teenage team-mate Kylian Mbappe as “something special”.

Mbappe has been in scintillating form over recent weeks and his opener in Saturday’s 2-1 Ligue 1 win over Bordeaux was his 16th of the season

The 18-year-old has scored 10 of those goals in the league and Portugal international Silva has little doubt that Monaco have a rare talent in their midst.

“He is 18 years old and what he does is amazing,” Silva told Le Figaro, after Monaco stretched their advantage at the summit of France’s top flight to five points.

“Right from the start, we saw and we knew he was a slightly different player, in his way of touching the ball for example.

“He has a game that has something special. On top of that, he works a lot. I hope that he will continue to help us win titles.”

@KMbappe a trouvé le chemin des filets lors de ses 7 dernières titularisations toutes compétitions confondues : 10 buts ! #ASMFCGB pic.twitter.com/eRUerabbSA

— AS MONACO (@AS_Monaco) March 11, 2017

Mbappe was on target in the first leg of Monaco’s last-16 tie against Manchester City in the Champions League, where Leonardo Jardim’s men ended up on the wrong side of a remarkable 5-3 scoreline at the Etihad Stadium.

The return clash takes place on Wednesday and Silva, who performed exceptionally in Manchester as Radamel Falcao scored a brace and missed a second-half penalty, is not ruling out a memorable comeback.

“Yes, we will have to make an outstanding match,” he said. “We know that City are in form right now.

“But with our supporters we can do it. We have this ambition, then we will see.

“We know we must not concede a goal and we know that is not easy against this team.

“We’re going to try to concentrate and not make the same mistakes that we made. We also know that offensively we are able to score.”

Silva added: “It will be complicated but we are able to do it. We’ll do everything we can to get through.

“In addition, we have Falcao, who is currently in a good period. We are happy to have him with us.”