The strange thing was that for all Guardiola’s protests to the contrary, this was not a vintage City performance by their towering standards. First on the list will be not to concede within the time it takes to tie a pair of shoelaces.

They did not go the way of Watford, beaten by six in the FA Cup final four years earlier by Pep Guardiola’s winning machine, but then it still felt like the divide was uncomfortable for them. Of course, from that point, with Sir Alex Ferguson barely back in his seat having carried the FA Cup onto the pitch, the thought was that it could have been much worse for the deposed kings of Manchester. A chaotic Manchester United who conceded within 13 seconds – needless to say, a record for an FA Cup final - and then spent much of the game with that indignity firmly in their minds.

This was the last roll of the dice from the English game to stop them. Only Internazionale of Milan, the third best team in Italy this year, stand between Manchester City and what feels less like the jolly treble of yore and more the establishment of a dictatorship of sorts of domestic and European football. By Sam Wallace, Chief Football Writer at Wembley

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