David Silva's son Mateo was born prematurely in December 2017
When David Silva's son Mateo was born late last year, the Manchester City midfielder took time away from football.
Shortly after his birth, Silva released a statement on Twitter to confirm that Mateo had been "born extremely preterm and is fighting day by day", and that his premature birth had been the reason for his absence from the Manchester City team.
On May 15 of this year, Silva once again took to social media to thank staff at the Hospital Casa de Salud for their help in treating Mateo over the previous five months.
"We're finally going home! We will be eternally grateful for the amazing team of the paediatric maternity and ICU units of the Hospital Casa de Salud for the professionalism and human treatment that have shown us these 5 long months. Just thank you!" he said.
https://twitter.com/21LVA/status/996476551700115458
Three months on, almost to the day, Silva gave us another heartwarming moment as he took to the Etihad Stadium pitch on Sunday prior to Manchester City's match with Huddersfield Town.
Holding his son who was kitted out in a Manchester City kit, Silva stood alongside his teammates and the rest of the mascots as the crowd applauded with gusto.
It was a beautiful moment.
