Of his 30 matches, Dias performed 20 blocks, 33 interceptions, 80 sweeps and 43 headers. Moreover, Dias was also the player with the highest number of passes in the Premier League this season.
By
M Ikhsan Mahar
·6 minutes read
Although he has only spent one season with Manchester City, Ruben Dias has demonstrated himself as the figure behind the success of City in taking home a Premier League trophy this season. Dias has become a complementing “puzzle piece” for City Manager Pep Guardiola, who has lost a leader of the back line after the departure of “The Citizens” legend, Vincent Kompany, at the end of the 2018-2019 season.
In the primary season appearance in the Premier League, Dias, 24, served as City’s statistic list leader in defense. The player, born in Amadora, a satellite town of Lisbon city, Portugal, has listed the most blocks, interceptions, sweeps and headers for City in the Premier League 2020-2021 edition.
Of his 30 matches, Dias performed 20 blocks, 33 interceptions, 80 sweeps and 43 headers. Moreover, Dias was also the player with the highest number of passes in the Premier League this season. He recorded a total of 2,566 passes with an average of 85.53 passes per match.
The capacity indicates the skill of Dias as a modern defending player with the role of a ball-playing defender. With the top quantity of passes, Dias has gone beyond several so far known as excelling at passing in the Premier League like his team mate Kevin De Bruyne or three leading “servant” halfback players of the world’s fiercest league, Jorginho, Bruno Fernandes and Jordan Henderson.
Until the 35th week of the Premier League, he only made 19 violations and was cautioned with three yellow cards.
One thing that has made the debut of Dias with City almost perfect was his zero blunders. Even in terms of the back line, Dias made the least violations. Until the 35th week of the Premier League, he only made 19 violations and was cautioned with three yellow cards.
Consequently, thanks to the presence of Dias, City emerged as the team with the least number of opponents’ goals in the Premier League and European Champions League in this season. The Citizens only get scored off with 26 goals in the league and four goals in the European.
Apart from his technical capacity as a back player, Dias is also known to have a high spirit of leadership. The player, born on 14 May, was named the captain of Benfica, the most successful team in the Portuguese League, in the second season joining the senior squad, in 2018-2019 to be exact. At the time, he was only 21 years old.
Guardiola acknowledged that Dias complemented City’s tactic already designed in the last four seasons. Along with Dias, City has finally been capable of regaining its reign in Britain through the league trophy and English Cup, later penetrating the final match of the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
"He\'s not just a player who plays good, he\'s a player who makes the other guys play good too. It\'s 90 minutes talking, 90 minutes communicating, 90 minutes saying what they have to do in every single action. When that happens, it\'s difficult for me and undroppable," said Guardiola as quoted by ESPN in April.
Praised by his manager, Dias was not conceited. On the other hand, he just lauded Guardiola who had helped him enhance his capacity as a central defender and realize the mission to win the trophy along with City
”Pep (Guardiola) is certainly one of the parties with the most important role for us in this season. He has the remarkable capacity of reading the opponent’s tactic so that he gives us some solutions to perform better,” said Dias.
Home player
Dias has got acquainted with football from his family. As a toddler, he and his older brother Ivan already owned a ball that could be played at home. The situation was inseparable from the love of their father, Joao Dias, who is a fanatic supporter of Benfica.
Not only at the park, Dias was also playing football in their apartment so this frequently angered his mother, Bernadette.
Joao, who played football as a hobby, taught his two sons to play football at a park near their small apartment area in Amadora. Not only at the park, Dias was also playing football in their apartment so this frequently angered his mother, Bernadette.
“Ruben and Ivan made the bedroom door and kitchen door two goalposts. You can imagine how the ball flies in the air to hit a number of articles that
were instantly broken and damaged. They were joyful and shouted out goal, but atmosphere at home was like that of a war zone,” recalled Bernadette.
After noticing the high talent of his son, Joao took Dias, then only 9 years old, to enroll at a local football school named Estrela da Amadora. After two years, a Benfica academic talent scout was interested to recruit Dias.
“I was happy when he joined Benfica as my favorite club since childhood. Benfica is the best place for Dias to develop his capability,” said Joao as quoted by The Sun.
Joao was not surprised at the performance with full determination displayed by his son along with City. When people were amazed at the tenacity of Dias to guard City’s goalpost with his whole body, the way he blocked the three kicks of Paris Saint-Germain players in the second semifinal of the Champions League on 5 May, for Joao it was not something new.
“Ruben (Dias) always wants to play football. Even when it’s raining heavily, he never wants to finish it. He has strong character and always intends to offer the best in his every appearance. That’s what he has shown so far,” he said.
Highest achievement
When invited from Benfica with a transfer worth 61 million pound sterling (Rp1.23 trillion), Dias was still an “inexperienced” player in gaining a champion trophy. Since he played at the senior level in the 2017-2018 season, Dias has only twice raised trophies. The two events were when he led Benfica to become champion of the Portuguese League in the 2018-2019 season and made Portugal the best team in the primary edition of the European National League.
Besides the league title, Dias also earned City the Premier League trophy.
Therefore, Dias admitted that the Premier League title was the biggest trophy he had ever won in his professional career. Besides the league title, Dias also earned City the Premier League trophy.
“Since my arrival, I had cherished the ambition of winning the Premier League title in the first year. It was my highest achievement,” Dias told ESPN.
Although the primary target with The Citizens has been achieved, Dias is even more eager to offer another title to the club headquartered at Etihad Stadium. In the summer of this year, he has two big ambitions, which are to present the primary Champions League title to City and later strive maximally to support the national team of Portugal to defend the European Cup trophy.Ruben Dias