We have not been here often with this Manchester City team but we have been here nevertheless.
It was last August in Lisbon when Pep Guardiola’s side faced Lyon in the quarter-final of the Champions League. It was a one-off game on neutral territory because of the Covid-19 pandemic and City flunked it so badly that the 3-1 defeat they suffered on the night was not remotely misrepresentative of the way the game had gone.
Guardiola, the City manager, looked a little shattered afterwards. It takes a lot to puncture Guardiola’s self-belief but the armour took some damage that night in Portugal and it has taken some time and some football to properly move on.