Manchester City’s Rúben Dias: ‘If we think too far ahead it will kill us’

R úben Dias is the leader of Manchester City’s defence, who Pep Guardiola loves to cite as the model footballer owing to the 26-year-old’s drive to burnish his elite talent via his uber-professionalism. In a team built by the manager to chase perfection this pursuit of excellence makes Dias one of Guardiola’s captains and is an inherent quality of a centre-back who was voted the Football Writers’ Association’s player of the year in 2020-21, his first season at City.

“I guess I’ve always been like this, it’s the way I believe I should conduct myself and it’s the way that makes sense to me,” says Dias of percentage gains. “Definitely. Football is details and the more details you can put together the better. This is the way that makes my life have more sense and I follow through with it.

“Obviously you couldn’t be in this team any other way. Although all of us have done great things, the demand is always very high. It starts mainly from the manager and the demand is always there. No matter what we do, individually or as a team, we’ll be asked for more and more. You have the personal demand of everyone as well. For us to be at the top this long is because everyone has it in himself.”

In Saturday’s FA Cup final Dias is expected to line up against Marcus Rashford, who in Anthony Martial’s injury-enforced absence may lead Manchester United’s front line. Dias, though, refuses to personalise the contest.

“United has many threats and we know them well,” he says. “We know who can be dangerous and how they can be dangerous. Overall United are dangerous because of the team they are and not any individual. Our biggest weapon is focusing on what we can do.”

If the champions defeat their crosstown rivals, the second leg of a possible