The pre-match meeting was at four o'clock. The full squad assembled. I stood at the front, a stylus in my hand, the tactical screen glowing behind me.
"Last season," I began, "we came here and won one-nil. It was a miracle. A smash and grab. We defended for our lives, rode our luck, and took the one chance we got. It was a beautiful, ugly, glorious victory."
I paused. "Forget it. Every single thing about that game is now irrelevant. We were a different team, a different system, a different club. And Pep Guardiola does not make the same mistake twice."
I brought up City's build-up play. A dizzying ballet of movement, triangles and rotations, players drifting into half-spaces.
