CNN
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Earlier than anybody else has arrived, Ruben Dias is at Manchester Metropolis’s coaching floor, prepared to start his day.
“The issue is, I’m going within the constructing and, after I come out, it’s darkish already,” he jokes to CNN Sport, whereas driving by way of Manchester to hitch up together with his workforce.
It’s by way of this dedication to soccer, alongside his pure expertise, that Dias has solid his repute as one of many sport’s greatest defenders, profitable the Premier League twice with Manchester Metropolis and now that includes on the 2022 World Cup with Portugal.
“It would positively be a particular second,” he says, looking forward to the event.
“I had the possibility of being within the 2018 World Cup in Russia. And I positively felt a unique perspective as a result of it’s one factor to observe it from the skin, you understand how large it’s, however then to truly reside it and be there, it’s simply one thing else.
“As a participant, it’s in all probability the largest [trophy] you’ll be able to obtain. It’s unfair to place it into phrases, to be sincere, the sensation you should have after you’ve completed it.”
Dias was included in Portugal’s 2018 squad however the then 21-year-old picked up an damage and didn’t characteristic in any matches.
This time round, he will probably be a key participant for the Seleção because it navigates a bunch containing Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea, aiming to mark what’s prone to be the final World Cup for its ‘golden technology’ with a flourish.
Pepe is 39, João Moutinho is 36, and, after all, Portugal’s talisman Cristiano Ronaldo is 37 together with his powers waning and a troubled membership profession following his departure from Manchester United.
“The primary day I met [Ronaldo], really educated with him, he had simply gained the Champions League,” Dias remembers.
“I nonetheless keep in mind that day and we had been training in regular apply. And then you definitely simply see why he was the place he was. You recognize, the way in which he did every little thing, each single factor, the element, the dedication.”
Dias channels the same spirit. His buddy and teammate at Metropolis and Portugal, Bernardo Silva, tells CNN Sport that “he’s like 100% soccer,” all the time working for the workforce and attempting to assist his teammates.
“Soccer for me is every little thing,” Dias says. “It’s life. It’s happiness. It’s coping with every little thing from being fantastic to being the worst factor on the earth, coping with all types of feelings.
“It’s making ready my future, it’s making ready sooner or later to have a household. It’s changing into a greater man myself. Like many different professions as effectively however for me, soccer is an enormous instance of life as a result of you may have all of it in soccer.”
Regardless of solely being 25 years previous, Dias is already a constructing a legacy on the Etihad Stadium, proving to be a key member of Manchester Metropolis’s all-conquering squad.
After his first season with the membership in 2020/21, he gained a number of particular person awards – Premier League Participant of the Season, Soccer Author’s Participant of the Yr and Etihad Participant of the Season – and was hailed as a part of Metropolis’s management group.
“In the long run, I feel it’s all as much as what’s deep inside you, what’s deep inside your head, your unconscious, the stuff you do simply because it’s these different stuff you really feel like doing,” he says.
However household, in addition to soccer, is every little thing for Dias, he says, later attempting to copy his mum’s recipe of arroz de pato – a Portuguese dish of duck rice – together with his brother.
“You may have all of the success on the earth alone,” he provides. “However if in case you have nobody to share it with, what does it serve?”
