Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias open up on new-found Manchester City defensive partnership | OneFootball

Manchester City’s new-found central defensive partnership have both discussed the combination between the pair in a new interview this week.

Pep Guardiola has been constant in his attempts to bring back his Manchester City side to their blistering best in the remaining weeks of the campaign, as goals remain for the club despite Liverpool successfully claiming the Premier League title.

While there remains the chance of major silverware in the final days of the 2024/25 season, Guardiola and City’s focus remains firmly on securing UEFA Champions League qualification for the next season via a top-five finish in the division.

The FA Cup Final also sees Manchester City present for the third season in a row, as they take on the challenge of Crystal Palace later this month having overcome challenges of teams from all four divisions of the English football pyramid.

And having now been unbeaten across the last nine games in all competitions, the main change for Guardiola in a tactical sense has seen a reshuffle in the back-four, with Nico O’Reilly taking on the left-back role and Josko Gvardiol shifting into the centre of defence.

Now, speaking during a new interview with Manchester City’s official club website, the latter has discussed his return to the central defensive role in Pep Guardiola’s side in recent weeks, as well as the task of working alongside Dias.

“It wasn’t hard to get back to my natural position,” the Croatian international admitted. “I have been playing for a long time, and I think it’s just inside of me and kind of natural.”

He continued, “The relationship between me and Ruben (Dias), I think it’s really good as you can see by the way we work on the pitch and the way we help each other.

“He is the experienced one and like the leader, not just to me but to everyone in the team and having him next to me makes our job a lot easier.”

From Ruben Dias’ perspective, the Portuguese international was keen to praise the talents of Josko Gvardiol, with the Croatian seen by many to be a contender for the club’s Player of the Season award in a difficult campaign across competitions.

“I believe everyone knows how good he can be and how good he is already,” Dias said. “And when you have this level of quality and are able to mix it with good communication, responsibility and ambition things can work out.”

The back-four is likely to remain the same for the remainder of the campaign until Manchester City’s ambitions in the Premier League are secure and confirmed, unless there are further injury problems hit on the squad – the trend of much of the season.

City did react during the January transfer window to their ongoing injury struggles by signing both Abdukodir Khusanov from RC Lens and Vitor Reis from Palmeiras for a combined fee of around £70 million.