Questions were flying around the WhatsApp groups of Manchester City supporters on Wednesday morning centred on the importance of this, Club Bruges at home at the end of a very kindly drawn eight-game group stage.
Slovan Bratislava, Inter, Sparta Prague, Sporting Lisbon, Feyenoord, an unfancied Juventus, a transitional Paris Saint-Germain. It was not exactly a nightmare fixture list for City to navigate their way towards the 11 points required for qualification into the playoffs.
And yet, the question was: other than finals, when was the last match as big as this? Forget the answers, that any City fan was even contemplating that spoke volumes for their season and the tension – a crippling fear of embarrassment – sweeping through the Etihad Stadium said more than enough too.
Pep Guardiola regularly waved his arms theatrically, hugged the edge of his technical area throughout like a winger.
He raced to retrieve one throw-in, accidentally chucking it at Bruges boss Nicky Hayen’s backside in his haste.
Head in hands as John Stones headed wide, flailing as Matheus Nunes sold himself short to allow the visitors to manufacture the opener. His angst lived every moment.
Pep Guardiola’s touchline frustrations summed up the kind of frustrated club Man City are now
Guardiola was animated in his technical area on a night with huge Champions League stakes
A nervous energy gripped the manager, gripped his players, gripped the crowd on a night that had started with a merchandise stall on the forecourt catching fire – smoke billowing into the Manchester air, two fire brigade units called to the scene and for a minute, a potentially delayed kick off.
The usual bus welcome for City’s players, where they drive right up to the Colin Bell stand and greet waiting fans, was shelved owing to the blaze’s proximity.
The official unveiling of three January signings – including the electric Omar Marmoush – needed to be cancelled for safety reasons.
Even the kit man left discarded tops on the floor for the official team photograph, only for Bernardo Silva to realise just before the camera flashed.
Perhaps when the whistle finally blew to begin the evening things would then start going smoothly. Wrong.
Guardiola diplomatically admitted beforehand that his team had a responsibility to give the crowd a performance to throw their voice behind.
Whether he believed that sentiment or not is another matter but it’s true that it became more vocal, more encouraging, once Mateo Kovacic had equalised.
The problem City have here in European games is the drop off in their usual Premier League crowd, thousands choosing not to pay the increased prices and making way for those who want to catch a glimpse of this country’s finest club side of the last decade maybe once or twice a season. It is not conducive to creating a hostile environment and needs correcting somehow.
Mateo Kovacic (right) scored the equaliser and two more goals for City followed to win it 3-1
There was a smile come the end of the night for Guardiola but there was plenty of anxiety prior
That is for another day but for now, as City head into Friday’s play-off draw that looks fraught with danger, Guardiola was everybody who is connected with the club he spearheads.
Cautioned for complaining at the referee, the Catalan’s reaction to City’s second of the night – the clincher – was to boot the Gatorade water cooler on their bench not once but twice. The act of a frustrated man at the top of a frustrated club.
