Defender treated every Benfica training session as if it were a
Champions League final and returns to Portugal to play in one
There is a quiet ambition at Benfica to build a team of academy graduates capable of winning the Champions League. It is a pipe dream as their best talents are soon sold off for eye-watering fees. The latest to fall into that category is Rúben Dias, who returns to Portugal on Saturday hoping to realise the ambition of a club who earmarked him as future captain as a teenager.
Chelsea stand in the way of Dias ending his first year at City as a European champion and partially fulfilling his former club’s ambition, alongside Benfica graduates Ederson, João Cancelo and Bernardo Silva. Some thought his £63m move to
England a gamble but Dias has proved himself to be one of the world’s best centre-backs by winning the
Premier League and Carabao Cup, not to mention the personal accolade of
Football writers’ men’s player of the year.