Ruben Dias backs Man City in Champions League semifinal: ‘The Bernabeu is a mad place, but we are a mad team’

Ruben Dias believes Manchester City are the right sort of team to thrive in the Santiago Bernabeu, a “mad” team ready for the lunacy that surely lies ahead of them.

City travel to the Spanish capital next week holding a 4-3 lead from the first leg of their Champions League semifinal tie against Real Madrid, a match they might have won by far more if they had taken the string of chances they made at the Etihad Stadium. They may yet live to regret their profligacy, both Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea were sent crashing out of the competition late on when they had been holding leads in the tie.

Karim Benzema, the competition’s top goalscorer with 14 to his name, has already shown the devastation he can wreak on defenses with a brace in the first leg either side of a devastating goal on the counter from Vinicius Junior. A repeat performance at the other end from City will surely see them add to their impressive tally.

From last minute defeats to Tottenham to defensive masterclasses against Paris Saint-Germain, their recent history under Pep Guardiola would suggest that the only thing City can be expected to deliver at the Bernabeu is the unexpected. That is something that even their players now seem to acknowledge.

“We are aware of what team are we facing, the impact they have in the Champions League and the atmosphere at the Santiago Bernabeu,” said Dias. “But we know our goal and what we need to achieve it. We are going to play with our personality and try to win. 

“The Bernabeu is a mad place, but Man City is also a mad team. We will be ready for it.”

It was notable that at full time Bernardo Silva, scorer of City’s magnificent fourth goal, almost felt compelled to remind viewers that it was his side who had actually emerged victorious rather than Madrid, whose string of goals to cut into the deficit meant they departed England with something of a spring in their step.

Riyad Mahrez was viewed as something of the chief culprit for City’s curious kind of profligacy, one in which they outperformed their expected goals but only scored from one of their five best chances, according to Opta’s metrics. Had even just one or two more of those found the net then Guardiola’s side might have been overwhelming favorites to reach next month’s final in Paris, though Dias insists his side never expected the tie to be done at its halfway point.

“A semifinal and with the second leg in Madrid, the game was never going to be finished [after the first leg],” he said. “No matter what happened, it would never be finished here in this first leg. We know exactly what is coming and we are ready for it.

“I think with the chances we created, we feel that the result could have been more favorable for us. But at the end of the day, we won. It’s one final won and we need to win the second one next week in Madrid. The spirit is positive. We could have scored more, we could have conceded fewer goals, but we don’t have time to reflect on that.”

It was an assessment shared by Phil Foden, who is backing his teammates to show their defensive steel in the Bernabeu Joao Cancelo’s return from suspension should swell Guardiola’s full back options after having to introduce Fernandinho for the injured John Stones after 35 minutes on Tuesday.

“We have showed, many times, how great our defense is this year,” said Foden. “It is going to be a great game and we will just have to put our bodies on the line at times. We know they are going to create chances as a team. It is only one goal, so we are just going to have to play the game, think that it is 0-0 and just try to play our football as we always play to win.”