Monaco may currently sit second bottom of Ligue 1 but two years ago, when Bernardo Silva had opponents on a string, they were Champions League semi-finalists and French champions.
During that season, he allowed a television crew to see where he lives. Not in a mansion but in a modest one-bedroom flat that resembled something you'd see in university student halls.
The kitchen was so small, it seemed even the 5ft 8in midfielder could reach from one wall to the other if he tried. Now in England, it is in similarly tight spaces where Silva is excelling.
In a crowded midfield on Thursday night, Silva stood out. The ball seemed glued to his boot at times while he continually stopped Jordan Henderson and Co from having time to think.
Manchester City's win was the result of little and large margins. The ball was 11.2mm from crossing the line to give Liverpool the lead while Silva covered 13.7km.
It was more than any player has ran in a Premier League match this season, and who has ran the second furthest? Silva again, with another third of a marathon against Tottenham in October.
Before moving to Monaco at the age of 19 in 2014, the Portuguese was a product of Benfica's academy.
He left the Primeira Liga club after only 31 minutes of first-team football, despite having two nicknames bestowed upon him while featuring for the youth sides.
The first moniker was 'Messizinho', meaning 'Little Messi', and the other was 'Cabecas', meaning 'Heads', apparently because he had a large noggin on a small body.
Silva is continuing to defy his tiny frame in the Premier League despite its physicality and that was something picked up by Pep Guardiola on Thursday night.
'He did everything,' Guardiola said of his performance against Liverpool. 'He is the smallest one but he shows us that to play football, you don't have to be tall or more physical.
'Incredible. I haven't seen a performance like that in a while. It was clean and clever.'
It is easy to see why Silva has been tipped as the heir to the throne of his 32-year-old namesake, David Silva. Both are small, technical and intelligent. They see things that happen before they do.
The 24-year-old, who cost City £43million in May 2017, had to be patient in his first season in the Premier League. He appeared 35 times but 20 of those were as a substitute.
In August, Guardiola hailed Silva's Community Shield performance against Chelsea as 'a masterpiece'. The City boss went on to say his team was 'Bernardo and 10 players more'.
The midfielder was asked two months later why he thinks Guardiola rates him so highly.
'I think firstly it's about my work rate,' Silva said. 'I've always tried to play for the team.'
That much was evident against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium. To put his distance covered into perspective, Fernandinho's 11.9km was the team-mate nearest to his 13.7km.
Silva was involved in 18 duels on Thursday – Liverpool's best in that statistic was Georginio Wijnaldum on 12 – and no one on the pitch managed more recoveries of the ball.
When the starting line-ups were announced and Kevin De Bruyne was confirmed as being on the bench, it felt like Liverpool had a slight advantage.
Yet by the end of the 90 minutes, this former Benfica ball boy had showed how much he has evolved. He is a playmaker with the legs to do the heavy lifting, a ball winner with finesse, a deep-lying midfielder who can be as aggressive as he is delicate.
Suddenly, that £43m price tag and bit-part role he played last season is a distant memory. Silva now looks like a bargain and future superstar of City.
