Manchester City defender Ruben Dias has discussed the club’s upcoming Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain as well as his desire to face Lionel Messi.
City are set to continue their quest to finally claim the elusive Champions League trophy this week, when Pep Guardiola’s side travel to the French capital to face Paris Saint-Germain.
Whilst the Sky Blues have started the season well, they are in for a challenging encounter in Paris, due to the French club possessing a star-studded squad containing the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and perhaps most notably, the legendary Lionel Messi.
However, unfortunately for PSG, the latter’s status ahead of Tuesday’s group stage fixture with City is currently uncertain, and owing to this, Ruben Dias has commented on the prospect of facing arguably the greatest footballer to ever play the game.
As per comments relayed by the Manchester Evening News, Manchester City defender Ruben Dias has commented on facing Lionel Messi when the Premier League champions face PSG in their next Champions League fixture.
Stating his desire to compete against the six-time Ballon d’Or winner, as well as his world-class PSG teammates, Dias stated, “Messi is a phenomenal player and as a professional, you want to play against all those sorts of names.”
“But whether it’s Messi, [Kylian] Mbappe, Neymar or [Mauro] Icardi, PSG have amazing strength in depth and no matter who it is we face, it’ll be a tough test. Everyone is looking forward to this game for exactly that reason.”
Dias continued, “They (PSG) have obviously strengthened a lot all over the pitch. The signings they have made this season have been fantastic and it will be a different challenge to the team we faced last year.”
“But they have also been one of the strongest teams in Europe for a number of years now. The likes of Ramos and Messi will add to their winning mentality, but when we played last season, they already had Neymar, Mbappe and [Angel] Di Maria.”
Ruben Dias expressing his desire to face Lionel Messi speaks volumes of the monstrous confidence that the Portuguese defender oozes and the galvanizing effect that he has had on his teammates following his arrival at the club.
Dias is expected to start on Tuesday night alongside his Manchester City teammates and will be keen to leave Paris with all three points in tow, as the Sky Blues look to progress beyond the group stage once again this season.