Manchester City's own fans played a role in Bernardo Silva's surprise penalty miss against Real Madrid on Wednesday night as the reigning champions bowed out.

Silva was culpable for missing one of the two failed spot kicks for Pep Guardiola's side at the Etihad Stadium as they were sent crashing out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals.

City had gone behind early in the tie, conceding to Rodrygo's rebound goal, but got themselves back on level terms at 1-1 (4-4 on aggregate) with a late Kevin De Bruyne equaliser. Having largely dominated the second leg, the treble winners from last season were unable to force a winner.

Extra time passed both sides by and so it went to penalties. Silva, often so reliable for City, was the first to blink.

His strange attempt came after Julian Alvarez had got City off to the perfect start, supported by Ederson denying Luka Modric to hand the home side a huge advantage. Silva was unable to capitalise, though, and placed a tame effort straight at Andriy Lunin.

The Madrid 'keeper decided against diving and had the simplest task to catch the ball. City never properly recovered with Mateo Kovacic also seeing his shot saved by Lunin, this time down to his left.

Silva's penalty caught the attention, though, after he was made to wait over half a minute for the ball to be returned from the stands. After Modric missed he then proceeded to hoof the ball into the crowd behind the goal in anger, only for the home supporters to keep it.

This left Silva standing inside the box without a ball and the referee gesturing animatedly for a new one to be delivered. Steve McManaman pointed out the impact that this wait might have on the experienced midfielder. He was proven right shortly after.

Analysing the penalties after the game, former City defender Joleon Lescott agreed that it influenced the quality of his shot. "That would have just took him out of sync and out of his rhythm," he said. "You can practice the routine, the technique, the walk up potentially, this is something you don't prepare for, the ball being in the crowd."

Rio Ferdinand added, "40 seconds by the way Joleon." Lescott replied: "That is a long time. It may not seem that long but it's a very long time when you are waiting there and you are thinking, now do I change position? Now do I change where I go? And all of a sudden, it's a soft penalty."

Ferdinand finished, "It's a shame though as well, because it is the home fans that are delaying that penalty kick which is a shame."

The two pundits also felt that there was a secret to Kovacic's miss as well. "You see Modric there even tapping [Antonio] Rudiger on the shoulder to say you were part of that," Lescott reviewed after images showed the German defender signalling to Lunin which way he felt Kovacic would be going.

"He would have definitely passed on experiences and knowledge because he wants his team-mates to go through. The fact that they played together obviously helped him tonight, but he wouldn't have thought about an ex-team-mate."

Kovacic and Rudiger were both keystones in the Chelsea side that beat City in Porto in the Champions League final in 2021.

"There is so much data, the homework is done," Ferdinand continued. "They write all these things down. He would have known in his head.

"He would have known in his head exactly where every single one of those players in a City shirt would have been going tonight."