One day it is going to happen, you do know that.
A team cannot be as good as Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and keep finding ways not to win the Champions League.
Maybe he knows that, too. It could be City's best way of keeping him, this inexplicable avoidance. Perhaps Guardiola stays until the inevitable happens. Could be this season, in St Petersburg. Could be next. Surely, it is coming. Sporting Lisbon are not a bad team.
They lie second in Portugal's top division, their coach, Ruben Amorim, is credited with breathing vibrant life into the club; its youth policy has long been credited with being among Europe's best.