Ruben Dias Makes Immediate Impact on Season-Defining Night for Manchester City

This was arguably one of the biggest nights of Pep Guardiola's managerial career with Manchester City.

Having been humiliated at home by Leicester City in a 5-2 drubbing, and with his entire ethos under the microscope, there was little margin for error in his next outing.

And is there a more intimidating test than going head to head with the coach who inspired your whole mantra, and his newly-promoted, gung-ho and free spirited bandits? Possibly not. The Citizens were in desperate need of a strong, commanding display at Elland Road. A performance worthy of champions.

Pre-match, all the focus was unsurprisingly aimed at the defence. A team now known for inexplicably crumbling at the first sign of real danger, City needed a change. That change came in the shape of Benfica star Ruben Dias.

Guardiola rolled the dice on the Portuguese centre-back, splashing another £50m on the man they hope will transform a leaky, powderpuff defence into a fearless brick wall. So, all eyes were on the 23-year-old and just how he would get on against Marcelo Bielsa's swashbuckling Leeds.

Dias and Man City were immediately helped by the return of star centre-back Aymeric Laporte, whose absence over the past 12 months has hit the former Premier League champions hard. The Frenchman undoubtedly brings an air of composure and calm to this defence, but no matter how good he is, he needs a man worth his salt alongside him.

It has to be said, his new partner in crime may be exactly that. Dias is the perfect compromise on a typical Guardiola defender. Strong and aggressive in the tackle, while confident and authoritative on the ball. He can do the ugly stuff equally as effectively as the beautiful side of the game.

He almost got off to a dream start inside five minutes, when he found himself unmarked at the far post from a corner. The defender skewed his header horribly wide, and a huge chance went begging. Still, he showed some great movement and knowhow to get into that position. A threat in both boxes, perhaps.

We're not here to judge his goalscoring prowess, anyway. Especially when Raheem Sterling is tucking away stunners like he did to give his side a well-deserved lead.

What we can say about Dias' skills in his own third is that he loves to defend on the front foot. In itself, it's a favourable and powerful trait to possess. However, we saw the best and worst of it in the space of four minutes, as Man City looked to stem the flow of Leeds attacks.

On 32 minutes, we saw the good. As Whites striker Patrick Bamford looked to collect the ball with his back to goal, Dias spotted his moment, and commandingly claimed possession from behind, stunning the forward, before springing a counter-attack of his own. It was exactly what Guardiola would have wanted.

Only four minutes later, we saw the bad. With Man City holding their line on the edge of the penalty area, the centre-back charged out to meet the forward receiving the ball on the turn. But this time, they were prepared. The ball was popped out to the left-hand side immediately, and with the defence now a man down and out of shape, Leeds went for the jugular. Ederson was in the way this time, but it was a warning shot.

The second half started with Leeds looking to get back into the game, and within 30 seconds they must have thought their goal was about to arrive. A wonderfully worked spell of football saw the play move to the right, and as the cross came in, Bamford threw himself in its path. But so did Dias.

He showed great reading and anticipation to get in front of the shot, and superb athleticism to snake a boot in the ball's trajectory. And that was the story of the second half. Leeds came forward, eventually getting their equaliser, although it came through an Ederson mistake, rather than any moment of magic or poor defending.

Bielsa's men were by far the better side in the second half, stretching the game and bringing Man City down into a boxing match. Much like a game of basketball, it was completely end to end, with both defences left hopelessly exposed by their midfielders. In these extreme cases, you need a steady head and a pacy, self-assured defender to hold his own.

Dias was exactly that. The Citizens were thrown into several three-on-two or four-on-three situations, with Leeds flying at their backline in numbers. Cross after cross rained down, and a mountain of clever through balls were flicked in their goal's direction.

Once again, the new man was on hand, and was impeccable, too. He blocked a couple of really dangerous attacks from the left flank, cutting out Helder Costa's wicked deliveries with ease. All in all, it was a solid, promising display.

Leeds have already proven this season that they are not to be sniffed at. They pushed Liverpool all the way, and picked up wins in their other two Premier League matches. It's safe to say, they're no ordinary newly-promoted side.

So Guardiola can take great heart and encouragement from his side's display - after they dominated the first half, and stood firm in the second - on an evening in which they may well have crumbled only a week ago.