Manchester City face Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League Final at the Estadio do Dragao, Porto on Sunday, 30th May. The leaders of City’s and Chelsea’s defensive lines are expected to be on top.
Both the centre-backs were signed last summer and have been the most influential players of their sides. They also helped their teams reach the Champions League final this season.
Dias was signed from Benfica for £65m on a six-year deal right after the defeat against Leicester City at the Etihad which saw a brilliant hat-trick from Jamie Vardy.
After City announced the signing, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said:
“If this doesn’t work, I think it is possibly the end of the Pep project“
But since his arrival, there are no signs of him not working out in the Premier League. The 24-year-old has filled the void left by former City captain Vincent Kompany and transformed the players alongside him. John Stones has improved so well that Pep prefers featuring in the team regularly over Aymeric Laporte. Moreover, he also got picked in the national side.
More than just being a defender, he has also become a leader in City’s defence. Since he arrived in the Champions League, City have conceded only four goals in 12 games. Similarly, City rose from mid-table to a commanding lead in the Premier League with 15 straight wins which consisted of ten clean sheets.
“Opponents will always score, because they are good, but we don’t give them easy chances — that is the big improvement of Ruben Dias,”
“He’s a central defender who leads the line and leads the team. His performance and decision making are good, but he also helps other players make good decisions — that is how you become an incredible defender.”
said Guardiola in March.
He also became the first defender in 32 years to win the year’s English Football Writers’ Association player.
On the flip side, Thiago Silva, who is 36 years old, signed for Chelsea from Paris Saint-German on a free transfer after a 1-0 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final last season.
Since his arrival, the Blues have thrived under his leadership alongside Andreas Christensen and Antonio Ruediger. Even though he got injured frequently, he has drastically improved Chelsea’s backline, especially after Thomas Tuchel’s arrival. Tuchel had 18 clean sheets in his first 24 games. The manager highly values Silva for his experience amongst a squad filled with young players.
“I am pretty sure that for ‘Thia’ it is a big advantage to come back to the final, to have this experience again and learn from the year before,”
Tuchel said of the Brazilian.
