‘We’re going for a third… maybe a fourth’

The Lisbon-born footballer, who captained his team to victory in the ‘FA Cup last month and was handed the trophy by the Prince of Wales, gave his dogs quintessentially British names.

John, a French bulldog, is named after his City teammate John Stones. His cockapoo is named for King Charles. “We called him Charles because we got him from Wales, and at the time, it was Prince Charles from Wales,” Bernardo tells HELLO! in this exclusive interview after he and his wife, Inês, 27, and their toddler Carlota, two, pose for our photoshoot. “We just thought that it was also a great name for him.”

The dogs, who are “a big presence in the house”, have adjusted well to Carlota’s arrival. “She loves them. It’s difficult to imagine the family without them,” he says.

Bernardo’s other British takeaway is an admiration for the way we drink. It is not a matter of quantity, he says, but timing. “In Lisbon, you start drinking at 7pm, then you go for dinner and the night ends at 7am, which is ridiculous. If you guys go out on Saturday, you start at midday and people are already enjoying themselves, and then at 11pm or midnight, people are home and the next day is not ruined. I think I prefer it the English way.”

Destination Spain?

Now, Bernardo, Inês, Carlota, John and Charles are leaving Manchester for the next stage of the midfielder’s career. Bernardo, 31, is evasive about exactly where they are going; he suggests that he probably knows which country, “but I haven’t decided which team yet”. Football fans may conclude that he is deliberating between Barcelona and Atlético Madrid.

Two other excitements loom: Inês is pregnant with their second child, and the family will soon be heading to the US after Bernardo was selected to play for Portugal in the Fifa World Cup.

Having Carlota in August 2023 “definitely changed my life”, he says. “Now everything I do is based on wanting to make [Carlota] happy. Everything we do, we make her part of it. In terms of time for just me and Inês, we don’t have it any more, but she’s fantastic. She’s really well behaved.”

Family adventure

He and Inês already have plans for more children. “We always wanted to have a big family, and this is just the beginning,” he says. “We don’t want to stop on the second one. I don’t like to think too much ahead, but I would say for sure that we’re going for a third one later. Maybe a fourth.”

Although they will travel together for the World Cup, strict rules imposed by Portugal’s manager, Roberto Martínez, mean that they will be kept apart, with Inês and Carlota staying in a hotel a five-minute drive away.

“We have to stay in the hotel as a team,” Bernardo says. “There will be a regime where there will be a time slot to see our families. It’s quite tough to be away, especially from your kids, but it’s that part of the year where we’re used to it.”

Royal encounter

Bookies have made Portugal fourth favourites to win the World Cup, behind Spain, France and England, but Bernardo is on winning form. He recalls the thrill of his recent encounter with the Prince of Wales, when William handed him the FA Cup after Manchester City’s victory over Chelsea at Wembley.

“I’ve met him a few times before, in the FA Cup and at World Cup events, and it’s great to see how much he enjoys football. He’s such an important person here. We’re really happy every time we get the chance to meet him.”

Bernardo saw William leaping to his feet and punching the air when his team, Aston Villa, won the Europa League last month. “When I saw the way he was celebrating and enjoying the game, it felt like a normal person watching a football game. It’s nice to see that.” 

British schooling

He says that he became aware of British customs from a young age, after his parents sent him to Queen Elizabeth’s School in Lisbon, a primary school founded by a British woman to strengthen ties between the two countries. 

In his final match for Manchester City, his teammates gave him a guard of honour as he left the pitch before the end of the game against Aston Villa. It was an unusual gesture and drew criticism from the former England player Wayne Rooney, who said that he “would have been fuming” if he had been playing against the team that day.

Bernardo is grateful for the honour. “The day was very emotional because nine years is a very long time. The club, my teammates, the fans, they mean a lot to me. It was nice of them to make that small gesture. It was beautiful to see how much people at the club care about me. It goes both ways.”

Leather wedding anniversary

Bernardo and Inês will celebrate their third wedding anniversary on 1 July, recalling a hot day in the Douro valley in northern Portugal that was reported exclusively in hello!. “The wedding ended at 8am or 9am, so we enjoyed ourselves.”

The bright sunshine, which threatened to be “too warm” during the first hours of the wedding, was a contrast to Bernardo’s life in Britain’s third rainiest city. “It’s tough for someone like me, being Portuguese and coming from a different side of Europe where we don’t have that,” he says.

“I had to adapt a little bit to the [lack of] light, the lack of sun and a lot of rain. When I look back and see how much I achieved, it makes it even greater [to have succeeded despite the climate].”

With the possibility of moving back to southern Europe, Bernardo will be delighted if his family find themselves in a city with familiar street food. Asked what he misses about home, he says: “In Portugal and in the south of Europe, there are little shops every 50 metres on the street where you can eat a pastry with coffee. Here, the way you enjoy food is a bit different.

“I miss the cod, the seafood, the way that we make it. I’m very Portuguese.”

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