Man City’s Dias: “Knockout stage feels like a new tournament”

Manchester City defender Ruben Dias has stressed the importance of approaching the knockout phase with a renewed mentality.

“We’re happy but it means what it means. It means only that we’re first in the group and that we went through. And now it’s almost like a new competition starting from tomorrow.”

The Portuguese international believes that, from now on, every game represents a new challenge, where mistakes can be decisive.

Dias warned of the difficulty of the upcoming game, highlighting the individual and collective quality of the opposition: “We know for certain it’s going to be a difficult game. They have a lot of very good individuals and they know for sure how to work well as a team.”

The defender also mentioned his close relationship with some players of the opposing team, such as Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo.

“I kept close contact with them, mainly because of Ruben [Neves] and Joao [Cancelo] as well. So I know they’re a very good team and we’ll need to be on our best level.”