The trophies keep coming for Manchester City. Defender Ruben Dias was named the Premier League Player of the Season and Pep Guardiola won the Manager of the Season award on the heels of Man City's title-winning season.
Dias, a Portugal international who joined City from Benfica in September, wins his second individual award after being named the Football Writers' Association men's Player of the Year last month. It's the third Manager of the Season title for Guardiola, who claimed it in back-to-back seasons (2017-2019).
Dias honored for impressive debut season
Dias came out on top after public vote was combined with those of the 20 club captains and a panel of football experts, edging out Kevin De Bruyne (Man City), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) and Tomas Soucek (West Ham) to the prize.
Dias is widely credited with providing City with a defensive solidity that was lacking during the 2019-20 season when they relinquished their Premier League title to Liverpool.
The 24-year-old won 23 of the 32 Premier League matches he played, keeping 15 clean sheets, as Pep Guardiola's side finished 12 points clear at the top to claim the title for the third time in four seasons. He also helped the club win the Carabao Cup for the fourth successive year and reach their first Champions League final, where they were beaten 1-0 by Chelsea in Porto.
Dias is only the fourth defender to win the prize, after Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic, former City captain Vincent Kompany and Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk. He is also just the second Portuguese winner after Cristiano Ronaldo, who won it with Manchester United in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
It is the second year in a row a Manchester City player has won the award after Belgian team-mate De Bruyne.
Guardiola voted best manager
The Spaniard beat out Marcelo Bielsa (Leeds United), David Moyes (West Ham), Brendan Rodgers (Leicester City) and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United) to the season award after votes from the public were combined with those of a panel of football experts to decide the winner.
Man City side became the first team to win the title after being as low as eighth on Christmas Day. Guardiola masterminded a 15-match winning run to take the Premier League Trophy back off Liverpool.
Guardiola also added a fourth successive Carabao Cup in 2021, but European glory once again proved elusive. City did make the Champions League final, but were edged out by Chelsea. Righting that wrong will remain a top target for Guardiola next season, with a new contract committed to in Manchester that is set to take him through to 2023.
