They had a problem at Benfica. A nice problem, but it needed correcting. Ruben Dias talked too much. Too involved. Too desperate to demand the best from those around him.
Dias was 18 and fresh into Benfica’s B team. He had shown leadership skills since joining the academy a decade earlier but needed fine-tuning. He was trying to be an all-encompassing leader of men before he had become a man himself.
‘We had some challenges,’ grins Benfica B coach Nelson Verissimo. ‘Ruben wanted to communicate with the whole team from full backs to strikers. We explained that he shouldn’t wear himself out too much.