John Stones: “Playing in these big games is something I thrive off, definitely the team thrive off it.”

John Stones is enjoying one heck of a career come back. He is now a stalwart in defence and is a near must start every game. Speaking after the Manchester Derby win that sent City to the final, Stones spoke about Ruben Dias partnership and much more.

Let’s dive in-

“I think everyone’s so hungry to win trophies and, no matter what game it is and who we are up against, the winning mentality of the lads is something so special.

“(It’s) something that’s very rare in football maybe, for a team to be… challenging for so many years.

“And it’s something that we pride ourselves on and something we’ll continue doing.

He said of Dias: “ It’s a pleasure to play with him, how well he’s done coming into the club straight away playing so many games, playing so well.

“All credit to him, I’ll take a bit for him too! Hopefully we can keep moving forward.”

“Today I thought we had so many chances, great chances and great moves where we got ourselves into the box and we did the job at the end of the day.

“Playing in these big games is something I thrive off, definitely the team thrive off it.

“I was just trying to follow the ball in, I couldn’t see the line of the ball, they held a high line” he admitted.

“We practice on (set pieces) in training and we know how vital they are in big games, so just to get something on it was great.

“I’m just working hard trying to play as many games as I can, play as well as I can and give everything for the team and everything for the shirt”.

“I think how we played today was a reflection of him, a great moment for us and I’m sure he’s looking down on the game today.

Great comments by Stones. A true leader and defender now.