David Silva reveals his Player of the Year ambitions
DAVID SILVA warned Villarreal last night: I'm in the form of my life.
Manchester City's midfield magician is returning to Spain as the early front-runner for our Player of the Year award.
And his attention is fully focused on helping City earn their second Champions League group win.
The Spanish ace is determined to slaughter the Villarreal defence tonight in the same way he carved up Manchester United in that historic 6-1 Premier League win at Old Trafford nine days ago.
Such was his performance — he also scored the fifth goal — that fans bombarded the Etihad to express their admiration for the impish little matador.
Silva revealed: "City received many messages of congratulations in the club offices. Never did I think that would happen.
"Now I am totally convinced it was the right decision to leave La Liga and join City.
"We might be rookies in the Champions League but our mission is to take our good league form into Europe and show we can be happy there too.
"Speaking for myself, I am enjoying my best form ever — including my time with Valencia. I am the same person as last season but, as a footballer, I have matured a lot. I know the City style better and have adapted to all aspects of club life.
"My English is more fluent and this always helps in communicating with my team-mates.
In my early days here, I suffered a lot of anxiety over this."
Silva, 25, is heading Wayne Rooney, City pal Sergio Aguero, Robin van Persie and Luis Suarez in the Player of the Year stakes.
His form has been simply fantastic with three goals, six assists and 30 shots in 10 league games.
Certainly, Barcelona and Real Madrid have taken note of City's £26million man.
He added: "I'm not that concerned about personal awards but to win that one would be sensational.
"Roberto Mancini insists I improve my performances even more and that's my challenge. I am a winner. I dream of winning the Premier League.
"Real Madrid and Barcelona are definitely two great clubs but City believed in me and I'm very well here."
Boss Mancini will unleash bad boy Mario Ballotelli on Villarreal and Silva is ready to supply the bullets for the City sniper.
Given all his scrapes, on and off the field, some say the Italian striker is mad. But not Silva.
He insisted: "Mario is a special player, someone who can break open any match. Yes, he's different. But he understands his football and has given us some lovely moments. Mad? No. Mario is different, unpredictable.
"Some days he arrives in a very serious mood and other times he is joking. But these types of player are needed in football.
"As for our victory over United, that was incredible. Of course, our challenge was to win the game. Yet nobody believed it would be 6-1. It was an historic day, one that will be remembered for years.
"The dressing room was full of celebration, though we are calm about our situation. There is a very long way still to go and we haven't won the title yet. But five points difference has dealt United a blow to their morale and made it hard for them.
"Our win over them showed we are the team to beat in England and we have shown that we can become champions.
"In the summer, Mancini promised us a bigger attacking system and is fulfilling what he said. I think we are creating many openings because of this strategy."
Villarreal's win over Rayo Vallecano at the weekend was only their second league triumph of the season and lifted them out of the La Liga relegation zone.
The 'Yellow Submarine' have lost all three of their Group A matches in the Champions League to date, including the last-gasp defeat to Aguero's goal at the Etihad on October 18.
Tonight they will be without injured spearhead Guiseppi Rossi but Silva knows there can be no City slip-up after they were given a major scare in the first game and fell behind after only four minutes before squeezing out a 2-1 victory.
He admitted: "We are rookies in the Champions League but we must get through the group stage.
"We are very happy playing in Europe and are looking to take our good league performances with us."
