The Story of Ruben Dias and Benfica.

A Thread

Ruben Dias was born into a middle-class football-loving family in Amadora. Ruben had his first steps as a footballer at the of the city Esterla.

Seeing his passion about football, Ruben's parents took him to Benfica academy for trial, which he passed with ease. At the academy, he started as a striker but later moved first to midfield and then to the defense line due to his tall and strong figure.

In 2015 Ruben hit the peak of his youth career with Benfica's second team as they won the Uefa youth championship. With such performances as a teenager, Ruben made his Benfica debut. He progressed through the Benfica academy and made his B team debut in the second division.

His senior career with Benfica started in 2016, when at 18, he was called up for Benfica's UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie against Zenit after three of his four main centre-backs were unable to make the trip to Russia.

The following season, he helped the second string to fourth place in LigaPro - the highest position the B team had ever finished.

On September 2017, Dias debuted for Benfica's first team in a Primeira Liga against Boavista. He put on quality performance game after game for the next two months, including two games against Manchester United in the Champions League.

Dias's good streak ended when he suffered and injury and later had an operation due to appendicitis. As a result he was sidelinned for a month.

On 3 February 2018, Dias scored his first Primeira Liga goal in the 5-1 demolition of Rio Ave. At the end of the season, Dias was voted Primeira Liga's best young player of the season.

At the beginning of the 2019-20 season many big clubs were interested in signing the promising youngster, after much speculation about his future club, Ruben decided to stay at Benfica and signed a new contract which would keep him at the club till 2022.

In November 2019, Dias played his 100th game for Benfica in style as he scored the opening goal against Rio Ave in a 2-0 home victory.

On 26 September 2020, Dias scored the opening goal against Moreirense in a 2–0 win. After the game, the manager of Benfica admitted that it was probably his last game for the club.

Dias played 137 games in total for Benfica, during which he scored 12 goals and provided six assists.

Honors With Benfica:

Primeira Liga: 2018–19, Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2019, UEFA Youth League runner-up: 2016–17, Cosme Damiao Awards – Revelation of the Year: 2017, Primeira Liga Best Young Player of the Year: 2017–18, Primeira Liga Team of the Year: 2019–20

UEFA Nations League: 2018–19, UEFA European Under-19 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2016, UEFA European Under-19 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2016

Dias had averaged a pass success rate of over 81% in Liga Nos and 86% in both the Europa League and Champions League

In the under-19 competition, Dias was named in the Team of the Tournament, in which Kylian Mbappe was another notable inclusion.

In 2020 Ruben Dias decided to join Manchester City amid strong interests from other clubs.

The 23-year-old centre-back immediately established himself as a starter at the Etihad after moving in September from Benfica

- End of Thread -

Source : Sportmob