The pair became close friends at Monaco before both moving to City in the summer -- making their Champions League debuts for the club in Wednesday's 4-0 victory away at Feyenoord.

France international Mendy was straight on Twitter after the full-time whistle making fun of a first-half incident where he was nutmegged by Steven Berghuis in front of manager Pep Guardiola.

But he also fired in a fierce shot that led to City's third goal and with right-back Kyle Walker also providing an assist, Silva says the full-backs offer an extra threat.

"It's even worse," Silva joked to reporters when asked what Mendy's antics were like in the dressing room. "He is a great guy, on and off the pitch, he is a great player and a fantastic person as well.

"He is a big friend of mine, so for me it's a pleasure to have him here. He has been helping a lot in the last games. To have him and Kyle in this team is great as well."

It was a perfect European start for Silva and Mendy, who helped Monaco reach the semifinals in last season's competition -- knocking out City in the round of 16 along the way.

Monaco also went on to win the Ligue 1 title for the first time in 17 years with a young squad that has seen many of its players head out to some of Europe's biggest clubs.

Guardiola has also built a relatively young squad at the Etihad Stadium and Silva recognises a similar hunger for success that existed at Monaco.

"Young players are hungry for titles," he said. "We have never won the Champions League and most of the players in this squad have never won the Premier League so we want to win big things and together we hope we can get them.

"They are different, they have a different style of play. It was great for me to be with Monaco last season, I enjoyed it a lot. This season I am enjoying it as well and I hope we can achieve great things together."

Silva made an exciting European debut dovetailing neatly with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne, and the 23-year-old believes he will improve playing alongside them.

"Personally it's a pleasure to play alongside these players. I am learning a lot from them, I hope I can learn much more," he said. "To play alongside Kevin and David Silva and all the players in this squad, we have a lot of quality players and it's very good to be here.

"I speak personally, I like a lot playing with them. It's easy when you are playing with quality players, with intelligent players like them, so it's much easier and much better to play alongside them because they are some of the best players in the world."