With Manchester City visiting Sporting in the Champions League round-of-16 tonight, the Portuguese media is, of course, full of stories about the English side.
Newspaper O Jogo features a long and interesting interview with Ruben Dias. There he spoke about the game against the Lions, the recent form of his former club Benfica, the national team, and, of course, Manchester City.
Ruben Dias tried to be pretty humble when the outlet talked about the importance he’s been having with Pep Guardiola’s side since joining. Only when the interviewers insisted, he admitted he’s been giving the team some ‘balance’.
“The greatest success is collective success, without the structure we have, it wouldn’t be possible to reach these stages. I’m talking about my colleagues, the coach, the staff, everyone around the club. Without all the structure that City have, it wouldn’t be easy for me to adapt and be who I am so quickly,” Ruben Dias told O Jogo.
“I ended up giving some balance, which was something the team needed. I brought a lot of stability, but the team was always here. In fact, there was that difficult moment, but the players were always here and as soon as they felt that stability, the team started to walk, the machine started to work. Then step by step, we started to notice the difference that each of our players is capable of making, through the collective and then shining individually.”
Now with a contract running until 2027, Dias was asked if he can become ‘some kind of Kun Aguero or Vincent Kompany’ for staying at Manchester City for so long.
“I still can’t read the future… I renewed my contract, I wasn’t the only one, the club made renewals in the last two years and left a clear message about their project. Football is unpredictable, both for me and for others. I’m happy to have renewed my contract and I believe my teammates are too, but with the awareness that football is time and you have to constantly renew and try to be better.”
The 24-year-old was also quizzed about who are the best three defenders and the Premier League, and completely dodged the question by speaking of his ambitions.
“I’m not going to be the one to answer that question, I’ll leave this one for you [laughs]. I’m working hard and obviously I work with the ambition to be the best in England and the best in the world.”
