MANCHESTER City's David Silva's photograph cradling his eight-month-old son Mateo as his team dedicated their 6-1 victory against Huddersfield to the infant has gone viral, as has the player's emotive thank-you letter to manager Pep Guardiola.
Fans were near tears as they saw the 32-year-old cradling baby Mateo, who was born 11 weeks premature, just before kick-off at the club's first home game of the season, dressed in a miniature Manchester City strip.
The tot is shown in glowing health in the close-up published by the team on its Twitter site, @ManCity (above).
After the match, the entire 'Skyblue' team posed for a picture with Mateo.
Baby Mateo was born at 25 weeks and spent the next five months battling for his life with mum Jessica keeping a vigil beside him.
Manchester City manager and ex-trainer for FC Barcelona, Pep Guardiola, made it clear to Silva that the game would always take a back seat to family, and allowed him compassionate leave to be with his girlfriend and their son.
Silva jetted constantly back and forth to Valencia until Mateo was out of danger and then allowed home, meaning he had to miss several matches.
He also had a picture of his baby with the slogan 'Never Surrender' tattooed on the inside of his left arm.
In tribute to his understanding boss, Silva created a video featuring footage from the documentary All or Nothing, aired in the UK, about Guardiola's second year with Manchester City, in which the manager can be heard in the changing rooms telling the team: “Today you have to win for a reason. You have to win for David Silva and his girlfriend.”
Guardiola was addressing the players just before their title clash with Tottenham after Silva had had to drop everything and rush to Spain when Mateo was born in December.
“Everybody stand up, guys,” the former Barça coach is heard saying, before urging them to play their hearts out for their teammate.
“When you go out there, you enjoy. Enjoy for him. If you go out there and we suffer, then suffer for him. Is that clear?”
Guardiola's exhortions worked, since Manchester beat Spurs 4-1.
The documentary also shows the Canary Islander swiftly checking his mobile before a match to find out the latest on Mateo's situation as he continued to fight for survival in an incubator, and a photograph of him in a hospital gown cradling the baby after he won his ordeal and shortly before he was allowed home, from Silva's Instagram account (second picture).
Captioning the video he uploaded on his Twitter page, @21LVA, the player wrote: “I can never thank my teammates and the staff enough for the support I've received in the hardest months of my life.”
