None of his squad are likely to admit it, but Pep Guardiola's side put one foot in the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday night.
By the time Erling Haaland slid in to bag his 45th goal of the season in City's quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night the message had been sent. City are going all-out to lift the Champions League this season, the one trophy that has so far eluded them.
That may well have been particularly welcomed by Bernardo Silva, who put in a brilliant display under the lights at the Etihad. Bernardo left City fans on the edge of their seats as he managed three quick-fire nutmegs down the right wing midway through the second half and he even managed to get himself on the scoresheet.
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It was the performance of a man desperate to add a Champions League winners' medal to his trophy cabinet. Perhaps because the Portuguese knows that he's already vowed to City fans that he and his teammates will 'do their best' to 'make the fans proud' by bringing back the trophy.
Speaking ahead of last year's quarter-final against Atletico Madrid, the City playmaker said: "It's a competition that maybe just Scott Carson won. Pep as well but the club has never won it. Most of us have never won it. We really want to do it. Over the years we weren't able to do it, it is the only one missing and we want to go for it again. The pressure is always there and we know these fans always expect us to perform well in this competition and we're going to try our best to make our fans happy and proud of us.
"Of course yes [it's annoying] because we know how important this competition is. It's where the best clubs in Europe play. We really want to do it. We weren't able to do it in the past years. The best we can do is try harder and harder and this year we're going to try very hard.
"It's definitely a goal. It's a thing that we really want to achieve if we are going to achieve - nobody knows. The only thing we can promise to our fans and the club is we're going to do our best and try as hard as we can to achieve that. Of course it is something that we really want.
"There is nothing more we can do apart from being our best and working hard every day, helping each other to win as many titles as possible."
On their latest performance, you wouldn't bet against City ensuring Bernardo keeps his promise to the fans.
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