Ruben Dias on Manchester City's difficult season ahead of Real Madrid UCL first leg play-off

NicheSportMedia

Ruben Dias on Manchester City's difficult season ahead of Real Madrid UCL first leg play-off  10/02/2025  CGA, Manchester, UK

Transcript

00:00Jürgen, please take questions from English-speaking media first and then move on to Spanish-speaking media.

00:18Hi, Ruben, are you OK? Just in terms of this season, it's been very difficult for Manchester City,

00:26you've just had an injury as well, what has it been like in the dressing room as all the injuries have mounted up

00:33and the results have not been the way that the players are used to or want?

00:38Yeah, well, I think since I've been here, maybe the most difficult season so far till this period.

00:45But I'm a firm believer that even on the most difficult scenario, the most difficult beginning,

00:51you can still do something and achieve something beautiful in the end.

00:55Right now, we're still in that position. Obviously, we know how difficult our position is

01:00and how difficult our way will be to get there.

01:04But I think it's a question of believing in what we have in the dressing room, and we have loads of guns.

01:10We just need to use them the right way, and with the right belief, we are able to do anything.

01:18Hi, Ruben. You've also been involved in lots of huge games for Manchester City.

01:23We've seen this particular match played out and go different ways in terms of Madrid winning some,

01:28you winning some, in completely different fashions.

01:30But in terms of intensity, is this the most intense game that you can play in a Manchester City shirt?

01:38Well, it's different to call it intense.

01:42Intensity, if you look at the Premier League, it's difficult to match that intensity.

01:48Obviously, it's one of the toughest opponents you can come across in the Champions League.

01:53But the game is different, and the game is more versatile maybe than any other.

01:58But yes, we definitely know very well what we're up against,

02:03and what we must push on.

02:05And yes, I wouldn't say this game can either be the most intense or not.

02:11It depends on where it ends up going.

02:14But it's definitely one of the toughest games you can have, most surely.

02:20Hi, Ruben. It's well documented how Real Madrid boycotted the Ballon d'Or ceremony

02:26in protest of Vinicius Junior not winning it.

02:29How disrespectful did you, as a squad, feel that was towards Rodri,

02:33who obviously won it and was a worthy winner?

02:36Being very honest with you, I didn't spend one second thinking about if he was disrespectful or not.

02:41I was happy with Rodri, I was there, I celebrated with him that night,

02:46and I was very happy for him, as I believe everyone at the club was.

02:50Did he show like a class play from Real Madrid?

02:54Well, I didn't really spend my time thinking about it.

02:58Hi, Ruben. Since you last faced Real, they've signed Kylian Mbappe.

03:03Can you tell us how different will it be to defend against him,

03:07and how do you go about doing that?

03:09Well, we've played against him many times before,

03:15and even then it was not just him the main threat.

03:18It was Neymar at some point, then Messi as well.

03:21We've had our encounters of teams that have that flexibility

03:29in terms of who can make the difference.

03:31In the end, when you get to this level of the Champions League,

03:34that's what you get from Madrid or from everyone else.

03:38Obviously, we know that they have a special ability to be more flexible

03:43than maybe most of the teams,

03:46and that's why we need to be really good and very solid at the back.

03:49The more solid we are at the back, the more comfortable we'll be in the game.

03:54Hi, Ruben. A lot of this tie is probably going to come down to Kylian vs Erling.

03:58It's obviously going to be a big talking point.

04:00Erling's never gone five games without scoring against a team.

04:03Do you sense that he's really going to want to prove a point,

04:05a, against Real Madrid, having never scored against them,

04:08and b, when it's going to be Bill as a substitute?

04:11And b, when it's going to be Bill as Haaland versus Mbappe,

04:14probably the two players who were kind of the Messi and Ronaldo for this generation.

04:18Do you sense this is the kind of game that is really going to get Erling going,

04:22and the kind of tie that's going to really get him going?

04:24Personally, I don't sense any kind of Erling vs Kylian vibes in the game.

04:31It's a city against Madrid, and that's what it is.

04:34Obviously, there's loads of big names on both sides.

04:39In relation to Erling, I'm sure that, just like all of us,

04:43he wants to be in this competition and he wants to win it just as much as all of us.

04:47So, I'm pretty sure that he'll be hungry enough to be there and perform.

04:56Hi, Ruben. Since your last play at Real Madrid, Kyle Walker's now left.

05:00He had some good battles against Vinicius.

05:02How much of a loss has he been to the dressing room, both as a player and a leader?

05:07He was obviously a big personality,

05:10and especially when it came to times like these he was always one to show up

05:15and show his face and be there for the team.

05:18Obviously, he was a player we all relied on.

05:22He's not here now, so it's time for another one to step up.

05:27Obviously, I think we've got enough names that are able to step up.

05:33Hi, Ruben.

05:34Are you able to give us an insight on what your last few months have been like?

05:39It must be really frustrating to come back and then have a setback.

05:43You've obviously been eased in this time.

05:45Do you feel ready to play three games in a week again?

05:48Yeah, obviously it's been frustrating.

05:52Especially after my first injury, then I came back,

05:55but then it was a death sequence when I came back.

06:00Everyone was injured and I had to play all the games every three days.

06:03In the last one, before I had the week between games

06:06that would allow me to breathe in a little bit,

06:10I got injured against United.

06:13It's obviously frustrating to be missing out,

06:16especially in a period like this,

06:17in which you just want to be there and help and show your face

06:20and be there next to your family on the pitch.

06:24But yeah, you help in whatever way you can.

06:27One of the ways is to recover as well as you can

06:31and as fast as you can as well.

06:33But obviously it's also a moment in which you need to be,

06:37I think and believe, very wise with the comeback,

06:39because you're getting into a moment of the season

06:41in which the train is going and you need to catch that train going.

06:44So it's important that together with the staff

06:47you take wise decisions in terms of game time,

06:49because right now the schedules are ruthless

06:53and you need to be wise and you need to be making the right decisions.

06:58We'll move on to Spanish questions, please.

07:03Hi, Ruben.

07:08A couple of years ago when you beat Real Madrid 4-0,

07:12Pep said in a press conference after that

07:15that you had that hunger to get revenge

07:20for what happened in the Bernabeu.

07:22I don't know if something happens similarly in the dressing room,

07:26when you're thinking about last year when Madrid beat you on penalties,

07:29do you have this impulse, this hunger, this drive to get revenge?

07:35I think ultimately what you say is part of what's coming.

07:44When we won the treble in that year,

07:46the year prior to that was very important for us,

07:49because that feeling that we had at that moment in the Bernabeu

07:54and I think more and more the understanding

08:00of how good we need to be to win this game.

08:04Because sometimes you might think that that 4-0 that we got was very easy,

08:08but it was a mix of so many things where we needed to be fully on our game

08:13and that's what we need to do.

08:14In the way that we did last year, it was a frustrating year,

08:18because we ended up dominating the game.

08:21But even so, we weren't able to score that goal

08:25that would have made the difference,

08:27before then we went on to penalties.

08:29But this is the competition, we know who we're facing,

08:32we know that it's a team that plays differently to us,

08:38they're not going to make it easy for us.

08:41And for me, I think for all of us,

08:44we need to do what we do ourselves better than ever

08:49and fight more than ever,

08:51because that's how you win, in our own way.

09:01I'd like to ask you about,

09:03is this the perfect moment for Manchester City,

09:07given the absentees that Real Madrid had at the back,

09:10Rudiger, Lucas Vazquez, Militao,

09:13all these players that are out,

09:16they don't have the most experienced defensive line,

09:19is this an opportunity for Manchester City

09:22to take advantage of this and win this first leg?

09:26I think the first error that we could make

09:29would be to relax,

09:31thinking that this is going to give us an advantage.

09:36Ultimately, we'll see what happens,

09:37we accept it, we see it,

09:39but all we can do is,

09:41we can only take advantage of that

09:44if we're at the level we need to be at,

09:47depending on the circumstances within the game.

09:50So I think that is what we need to focus on,

09:53to get up to that level,

09:55and then afterwards,

09:57to be there and to have that balance within the game,

10:01and perhaps those things will come in our favour,

10:05but we can't think about them being weak,

10:09because we know how dangerous they can be,

10:13and how good we need to be ourselves.

10:20In the previous years,

10:21we've seen a fantastic fight between Walker and Vinicius,

10:26Walker did very well in that battle,

10:29and now, without Walker,

10:32is there a player in this Manchester City team

10:35who will be responsible for stopping Vinicius in this game,

10:40given Walker's gone?

10:42And can that be an advantage for Madrid,

10:44given that Walker is no longer in the side?

10:47Well, we don't know who's going to play,

10:50the manager will decide,

10:53he's not decided yet,

10:55but we do have options to do it,

10:59and more than anything,

11:01we're not thinking about one player alone,

11:05because those individual duels will be very important,

11:08whether it's against Vinicius or the other players on the pitch,

11:12but it will be the collective action

11:14and the way that we behave as a collective,

11:17whether it's one-on-one or throughout the pitch,

11:20that will make the difference.

11:22Therefore, I think we have all we need

11:25to be able to look after him.

Category

Transcript

Recommended