´We love to win finals´ – Ruben Dias revels in latest Man City triumph at Wembley

Ruben Dias declared Manchester City “love to win finals” after they defeated rivals Manchester United on penalties to win the Community Shield.

The reigning Premier League champions avenged their defeat to United in May’s FA Cup final with a 7-6 shoot-out win at Wembley on Saturday.

That came after Bernardo Silva headed in Oscar Bobb’s cross in the final minute of normal time to cancel out Alejandro Garnacho’s 82nd-minute strike.

City won the season’s curtain-raising fixture for a seventh time – and the first time since 2019 – to give themselves momentum heading into the new Premier League campaign.

And captain Dias, who has won 10 trophies as a City player, including the Community Shield, was proud of the way his team-mates dug in at Wembley.

“We’re happy to start the season in the way we have and obviously there’s a lot to come,” he told ITV Sport. “It’s another trophy and we’re always happy to collect trophies.

“We’ve just had a long season and we still don’t have a full squad back but it is very good for us to start this way.

“It’s very different circumstances to the FA Cup final but it’s a final and we love to win finals. The way we played, conceding a goal but then to make it 1-1, I’m very proud of all of us and very happy with the win.”

City are BACK#ManCity pic.twitter.com/3VVg0hpJUS

— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 10, 2024

Like they had towards the end of the 90 minutes, United looked on their way to victory in the penalty shoot-out when Andre Onana denied Silva from City’s first attempt.

However, Ederson helped Jadon Sancho’s pen onto the post and Jonny Evans blazed over the bar as City prevailed in sudden-death.

Ederson himself stepped up and buried his penalty, giving opposite number Onana no chance, and team-mate Manuel Akanji believes he is City’s king of pens.

“Ederson is probably the best penalty taker in our team, Erling [Haaland] as well,” he told ITV Sport. “When Ederson takes the penalty, I know it is a goal.

“It wasn’t easy today. We played well. United got a bit better before it went to 1-0. Then it was a great cross from Oscar and Bernardo’s header.”

City face Chelsea a week on Sunday in the opening game of their Premier League title defence, but they will first revel in their latest trophy triumph.

“This is a great feeling – the first time we have the trophy in a number of years,” Bobb said. “To do it with a young group is great. We had belief all the way through. We kept going and didn’t get too downbeat.

“It’s another trophy. It’s a great start. This gives us a lot of confidence and no negatives.”