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Man City's five captains are all stepping up when it matters ahead of defining week

Around January or February, Manchester City players started to do something a little different ahead of kick-off.

It wasn't a new idea, but for the first, inconsistent, half of the season, City hadn't been doing it. When Ilkay Gundogan and Pep Guardiola went public with their concerns of complacency within the squad at the start of 2023, something had to change.

Guardiola challenged his players, staff, fans, and even his bosses, to demand more from each other if they wanted to win anything this season. On the players' part, they stepped up and put a run of one defeat in 27 together to win two trophies and stand 90 minutes from another.

ALSO READ: Ilkay Gundogan gives verdict on electric Man City form and outlines 'simple' Champions League demand

A common feature of all of those games was the pre-match huddle, with the starting XI gathering together moments before kick-off in the centre of the pitch to get one final reminder from the captain. Gundogan was filmed delivering one such message before a recent game thanks to a persistent cameraman, but it wasn't the skipper doing the motivating at Wembley as City went on to beat Manchester United and lift the FA Cup.

"I was preparing to do my speech but Ruben Dias wanted to say some words so he did it," Gundogan admitted after the game. "Most of the time it is me but sometimes there are players who like to talk and it is good that other players want to say things.

"Ruben found the right words before kick-off. We do it in a huddle so it stays private but you can imagine. Motivational words for the boys."

Insights into the dressing room in recent seasons have shown similar messages from Dias before the players go out onto the pitch, and also from Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker

Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk