Pep Guardiola backed John Stones when nobody else did in 2017 press conference

Six years after being heavily criticised throughout his debut campaign at the Etihad, defender-turned-midfielder John Stones was the difference-maker for Manchester City in their Champions League final win.

Like he has done so often this season, the 29-year-old flourished for Pep Guardiola's side in that deep-lying midfield role against Inter Milan, stepping into more advanced positions and dictating play with ease.

In fact, as well as controlling the flow in midfield, the 'Barnsley Beckenbauer' completed more dribbles than any player in a Champions League final since Lionel Messi in 2015 – a nod to his underrated ball-playing ability.

It has been a majestic season for Stones, who was facing an uncertain future at City after a difficult start to life in Manchester.

In his debut season following a £47.5 million move from Everton, the defender suffered a noticeable drop in form. Back in March 2017, for example, he was heavily criticised for his role in the club's Champions League last 16 exit to Monaco.

But days later he responded with a composed display against Liverpool – a performance that led Pep Guardiola to deliver one of his most iconic press conference moments.

"John Stones has more balls than everyone here," said Guardiola.

"I am delighted to have John with all the huge amount of mistakes he has, I love him. Because it's not easy to play central defender with this manager. That's why I admire my defenders a lot."

Stones would continue to blow hot and cold in a City shirt. He was even linked with a transfer at the end of the 2019/20 campaign after the club brought in centre-backs Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias.

Ahead of Saturday's final against Inter Milan, Stones reflected on that difficult period.

“It was probably one of the hardest times in my career (in 2020)," he said in a press conference. "I literally went back to firstly looking at myself, being super critical of myself and what I could do better on the football pitch, and then looking into every fine detail, down to food, what food, training, what training, what extras.

“That’s come down to doing stuff here and then going home and doing work, even late at night, or straight after the training and all these kinds of specific things, finding these small margins, put them all together to kind of break where I was at after coming back to playing.

"Yeah, a big learning curve for me and maybe who I am today.”