Ruben Dias has revealed that he and the rest of his Manchester City teammates want to see Pep Guardiola back in the dugout as soon as possible.
After having surgery to fix a back problem, the Spaniard was not at Bramall Lane on Sunday to see his side beat Sheffield United 2-1 to make it three Premier League wins out of three.
With the 52-year-old also set to be absent for this weekend’s league outing against Fulham at the Etihad Stadium, one City player has spoken out about the current managerial situation.
Dias eager for Guardiola return
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News after the game at Bramall Lane, Dias had this to say about Guardiola and his absence.
He said: “We all know each other very well. He’s been with us for a long time so obviously we miss him, and we want him back.
“We know exactly what we’re doing and what we have to do. We understand it’s important he recovers in the best way possible. He was in contact the whole time.”
Looking back over the win against the Blades, which saw Guardiola’s assistant coach, Juanma Lillo, take temporary charge of the team, it took the away side 63 minutes to break the deadlock with an Erling Haaland header, after the striker missed a penalty in the first half.
The Citizens then found themselves conceding their first league goal of the campaign as Jayden Bogle levelled the score, only to then see Rodri score a winner three minutes later in the 88th minute of the game.
With Dias highlighting how keen he and the rest of the City players are to see Guardiola make a full recovery and get back on the touchline, this shows how important his presence and coaching is for the players on match days, even though he’s been working with a lot of the players for a significant period of time.
